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The 
AMATEUR CHEMIST 



By A. Frederick Collins 

The Book of Wireless 
The Book of Stars 
The Book of Magic 
The Book of Electricity 
Gas, Gasoline and Oil 

Engines 
The Amateur Chemist 
The Amateur Mechanic 
How to Fly 

The Home Handy Book 
Keeping Up with Your 

Motor Car 

D. Appleton & Company 
Publishers New York 



196E 



The 
AMATEUR CHEMIST 



AN EXTREMELY SIMPLE 

AND 

THOROUGHLY PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY 

FOR THE 

HOME, OFFICE, SHOP AND FARM 



A. FREDERICK COLLINS 

AUTHOR OP THE "AMATEUB MECHANIC," "HOW TO FLY," 
"KEEPING UP WITH YOUB MOTOB CAB," ETC. 




FULLY ILLUSTRATED 



• r 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

NEW YORK ' LONDON 

1919 I 



Copyright, 1919, by 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



PBINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMEBICA. 



©CI.A525712 

MAY 31 1919 



f 1 t 



i'7 



TO 

SAMUEL WEIN 



A WORD TO YOU 

Life and living is simply a matter of chemistry. 

Further, our bodies are built up of chemical sub- 
stances by chemical processes, also the air we breathe, 
the water we drink, the food we eat, the fire we cook 
and heat with, the clothes we wear — indeed, every- 
thing all around and about us is due to chemical ac- 
tion and reaction. 

This being true you can readily see how tremen- 
dously important a part chemistry plays in our daily 
lives, and my purpose in writing this book is to ex- 
plain some of the general truths about it so that you 
can understand and use them without having to rack 
your brain to do it. 

When you come to know thyself, as the old philos- 
ophers used to say, and the nature and functions of 
the common things that form so large a part of your 
routine of life, you will be more in tune with the 
world and the infinite and hence you will be able to 
get the best out of life that there is in it. 

This chemistry of mine differs from the ordinary 
school and college text books on the subject in that 
it treats less of theory and deals more with the prac- 
tical uses of chemicals and chemical experiments in 
their varied relations to the business of living. 

vii 



A WOED TO YOU 

Therefore, instead of a lot of merely interesting 
facts, complex rules and spectacular experiments, I 
have shown how nature works through chemical 
forces to the end that you may live as a 100 per cent 
civilized heing should live, and hy knowing these 
things you can help nature and thereby materially 
help yourself. 

A. Eeedeeick Collins. 
"The Antlers/' 
Congers, N". Y. 
(Eockland Co.), 



VUl 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Air We Breathe 1 

When the atmosphere was formed — What air is 
made of — A word about oxygen — How to make 
a little oxygen — How to make some nitrogen — 
How things burn in air — The way we breathe — 
What our lungs are for — How the gases pass 
through the sacs — What oxygen does to our 
bodies — How carbon dioxide is carried away — 
An experiment with carbon dioxide — How good 
air is made bad — What breathing impure air 
does — The air is a carrier of disease germs — How 
to ventilate a house — A simple way to ventilate 
a room — The best kind of ventilation — How to 
make bad air good — Ozone and how to make it. 

II. The Water We Drink and Use 17 

What water is made of — How to make hydro- 
gen; — The apparatus required — Making the ex- 
periments — What takes place in the flask — Kinds 
of water — The uses of water — Water as drink and 
food — The pollution of drinking water — -The chief 
kinds of disease germs — The use of the micro- 
scope — How to test water for disease germs — ■ 
How you can have water tested — How to purify 
drinking water — Mechanical separation — The co- 
agulation method — By heating — 'Boiled water — 
Distilled water — Water as a solvent — Water as 
a cleaning agent — Soft and hard water — Soft 
water — Hard water — Temporary hardness — Per- 
manent hardness — The uses of water in the indus- 
tries — The chemical analysis of water — Treat- 
ment of boiler water — Boiler crust — The rem- 
edy — The permutite process. 

III. The Foods We Eat 34 

Why we must have food — What the human body 
is made of — How the elements are combined — 
Kinds of foodstuffs — What foodstuffs are made 
of — The proteins and how they are digested — 
The carbohydrates and how they are digested — 
Fats and how they are digested — Mineral matter 

ix 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTBB PAGE 

as food — What cooking does to food — Fuel values 
of foodstuffs — Percentage of food materials in 
foodstuffs — The amount of food you should eat — 
Prices and fuel values of foodstuffs — What to eat 
to grow thin — What to eat to grow fat — What to 
eat to grow brains — What to eat to get strong. 

IV. How Foods Abe Camouflaged 46 

What impure foods are — Milk, the great food— 
What milk is — Evaporated milk — How milk is 
doctored — How milk is tested — Counting bacteria, 
in milk — How to make milk safe — Butter and 
its substitutes — Renovated butter — Oleomarga- 
rine — How to test for butter — The staff of life — 
About yeast and baking powder — How to test for 
alum — Concerning doctored meats — The sweet- 
ness called sugar — Coffee, the good poison — Tea, 
the ancient beverage. 

V. The Fire We Cook and Heat With .... 58 
About chemical change — What fire is — The kin- 
dling temperature — What heat is — How heat is 
transmitted — How heat develops power — What 
temperature is — How heat is measured — What 
fuel is — The origin of fuels — Wood — Charcoal — 
Coal — Bituminous coal — Coke — Anthracite coal 
— Petroleum — Natural gas — Peat — Lignite — 
Why fuels should be tested — How fuels are tested 
— The bomb calorimeter — How the calorimeter 
works — Testing by proximate analysis — The 
water content — Fixed carbon — Ash — Sulphur — 
How to save fuel in the home. 

VI. Solvents and What They Do 73 

What acids are — The three chief acids — How to 
make sulphuric acid — The apparatus — The ex- 
periment — What happens — The uses of sulphuric 
acid — How to make hydrochloric acid — The ap- 
paratus — The experiment — What happens — The 
uses of hydrochloric acid — How to make nitric 
acid — The apparatus — The experiment — What 
happens — Getting nitric acid from the air — The 
uses of nitric acid — Aqua regia, the king of waters 
— Next come the bases — What salts are. 

VII. About Metals and Their Uses 84 

What metals are — How metals occur in nature— 
The activity of metals — Table of activity — Po- 
tassium — Sodium — Lithium — Calcium— Mag- 
nesium — Aluminum — Manganese — Zinc — 



CONTENTS 

bHAPTEB PAGE 

Chromium — Iron — Nickel — Tin — Lead — 
Copper — Bismuth — Mercury — Silver — Plati- 
num — Gold— Some useful alloys — Table of al- 
loys — Some useful amalgams — Table of amal- 
gams. 

VIII. The Value op Fertilizers 104 

What the soil is made of — What the soil contains 
— What water does to the soil — How to make the 
soil productive — How fertilizers act — Kinds of 
fertilizers — Indirect fertilizers — Barnyard ma- 
nures — Guano — Green manures — The rotation of 
crops — Direct fertilizers— The soluble nitrates — 
Sodium nitrate — Ammonium sulphate — Other ni- 
trogen fertilizers — The phosphate fertilizers — ■ 
Animal phosphates — Mineral phosphates — 
Thomas slag — Superphosphate fertilizers — 
Double superphosphate fertilizers — The Potash 
fertilizers — Wood ashes — Commercial potash fer- 
tilizers — Mixing fertilizers yourself — Using farm 
wastage for fertilizers. 

IX. Cleaning, Bleaching and Disinfecting . . . 115 
Kinds of cleaning processes — How washing is 
done — What soap is — How to make a little soap — 
Kinds of soap — Why soft water must be used — 
How soap and water cleans — What soap does to 
grease — How soap removes dirt — How soda, bo- 
rax and ammonia act — What bluing does — How 
dry cleaning is done — Benzine, gasoline and kero- 
sene — Ether, chloroform and carbon disulphide — • 
Carbona and carbon tetrachloride — How bleach- 
ing is done — What bleaching compounds are — 
Bleaching with ozone — Bleaching with hypochlo- 
rous acid — An old-fashioned bleaching scheme — ■ 
Bleaching powder for cotton and linen — Sulphu- 
rous acid for wool, silk and straw — Hydrogen 
peroxide for hair and wool — The uses of disinfec- 
tants — Chlorine — Sulphur — Hydrogen Perox- 
ide — Formaldehyde — Phenol. 

X. The Art of Dyeing Nicely 125 

Kinds of goods — Kinds of dyestuffs — How dyes 
act on fabrics — Substantive dyes — Adjective dyes 
— What mordants are — What lakes are — How 
mordants make colors — About using dyestuffs — 
Dyeing at home — Preparing the goods — Dyeing 
cotton, linen, wool and silk — Doing job dyeing — 
Preparing the goods — Strippine — Job dyer's col- 
ors — Dealers in dyestuffs. 

xi 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB PAGE 

XI. The Leather and Rubber You Use .... 134 

The art of making leather — What tawing and tan- 
ning means — Preparing skins for tawing and tan- 
ning — How tawing is done — Oil tawing — Alum 
tawing — How tanning is done — Tanning in liquor 
— Tanning in the bark — How shoe leathers are 
made — The use of extracts — The chrome alum 
process — How split leathers are made — Imitation 
leathers — Rubber — How rubber was named — 
What rubber is — What vulcanization means — 
Hot vulcanization — Cold vulcanization — How to 
make rubber cement — How synthetic rubber is 
made. 

XII. What Common Things Are Made of ... . 145 
In and around the house — Chalk, oyster and egg- 
shells, coral and pearls — Plaster of paris — Carbo- 
rundum and emery — Epsom salts — Graphite and 
diamonds — Ink — - Lunar caustic — Matches — 
Paper — Earthen and other ware — Clay and kao- 
lin — Flower-pots, earthenware and jugs — Crock- 
ery, stoneware and graniteware — China and porce- 
lain — Some building materials — Wood — Sand, 
quartz, rock crystal, chalcedony, onyx, agate, jas- 
per and flint — Sandstone— ^Glass, window, plate, 
Bohemian and flint — Granite and marble — Lime 
and mortar — Portland or hydraulic cement — Con- 
crete. 

XIII. Good Paints~and Oils 154 

Kinds of paints — Kinds of pigments — Natural or 
earth colors — Chemical colors — Plant, animal and 
coal tar colors — What lakes are — Kinds of colors 
that last — Oils, driers and thinners — What var- 
nishes are — About ready mixed paints — Simple 
tests for pigments, oils and varnishes — White 
lead — Lakes and mineral pigments — Linseed oil 
— Turpentine — Oil varnishes. 

XIV. Photo- and Electro-Chemistry 164 

Photo-chemistry — How photographs are made — 
The action of k-rfr ->n silver — How to make silver 
nitrate — How to make silver chloride — How sil- 
ver bromide is made — How dry plates and films 
are made — How a negative is made — What de- 
veloping does — Why the plate or film is fixed — 
About photo printing papers — Silver papers — 
Toning silver prints — Blue print paper — Electro- 
chemistry — How batteries are made — Primary 

xii 



CONTENTS 

SAPTEB PAGE 

battery cells — How a primary cell generates cur- 
rent — Storage battery cells — How a storage bat- 
tery delivers current — About electroplating — 
How electroplating is done — Other uses of electro- 
metallurgy. 

XV. Some Useful Explosives 175 

Sporting and military powders — How gunpowder 
is made — Common black powder — When gun- 
powder explodes — What smokeless powders are — 
About nitrocellulose powder — And nitroglycerine 
powder — How gunpowders are fired — Fulminates 
and detonators — Farm explosives — What blasting 
powder is — How dynamite is made — How blasting 
powder and dynamite are fired — Blasting powder 
— The miner's squib — The safety fuse — The 
blasting cap — Dynamite — Firing explosives by 
electricity — The apparatus you need — The blast- 
ing machine — The connecting wires — The electric 
squib — The electric blasting cap. 



Xill 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG. PAGE 

1.— What Air Is Made of 3 

2. — Apparatus for Making Oxygen 4 

3. — An Easy Way to Make Nitrogen 7 

4. — Diagram of Small Bronchial Tubes 9 

5. — Diagram of an Air Sac and Blood Tubes, or Capillaries 10 

6. — An Experiment with Carbon Dioxide 12 

7. — The Right Way to Ventilate a House 15 

8. — The Spark of an Induction Coil Makes Ozone ... 16 

9. — A Hydrogen (H) Making Apparatus ...... 18 

10. — Kinds of Disease Germs Carried by Water .... 22 

11. — A Magnifier and a Microscope 23 

12.— A Drop of Water Magnified 23 

13. — Preparing Nutrient Gelatine 24 

14. — Germs and an Incubator for Germs 25 

15. — What the Human Body Is Made of 35 

16. — Comparative Cost of Fu >l Values of Foods .... 42 

17. — Scientific Eating 44 

18.— A Lactometer for Testis ig the Density of Milk ... 49 

19. — An Optical Lactoscope for Testing the Quality of Milk 49 

20. — Koenig's Apparatus for Analyzing Butter .... 51 

21. — Sugar and Coffee and Tea 55 

22. — Watchspring Burning in Jar of Oxygen 60 

23. — Fahrenheit and Centigrade Scales Compared ... 63 

24. — Coal in the Making and When Made 65 

25A— Old Way of Making Charcoal 67 

25B.— New Method of Making Charcoal 67 

26A. — How the Parr Bomb Calorimeter Is Made .... 69 

26B.— The Parr Calorimeter Ready to Use 70 

27. — A Sulphur Photometer to be Used with the Calorimeter 72 

28. — Apparatus for Making Sulphuric Acid (H 2 S0 4 ) . . 74 

29. — Apparatus for Making Hydrochloric Acid .... 76 

30.— Apparatus for Making Nitric Acid (HN0 3 ) .... 78 

31. — Making Nitric Acid from the Air 80 

XV 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIG. PAGE 

32. — Action of Potassium on Water 86 

33. — Magnesium Wire Burning in Air 90 

34. — Hall's Process for Extracting Aluminum 91 

35. — The Source and Production of Iron (Fe) 95 

36. — Some Ancient Copper Tools 98 

37.— A Standard Fuse Link 99 

38. — Platinum Combustion Crucible 100 

39. — Diagram of Soil Section and Root Growth .... 105 
40. — It Takes a Drop of Water 2 Feet in Diameter to Make 

1 Pound of Dried Plant Matter 106 

41.— Fertilized and Unfertilized Field of Corn 108 

42.— The Easy and Right Way to Wash Clothes .... 116 

43.— Kinds of Soap . . . s 118 

44.— The Cotton Plant and Its Fibers , . 126 

45.— The Sheep and Its Fibers 126 

46.— The Silkworm and Its Fibers 126 

47. — Pans for Home and Job Dyeing 131 

48. — Cross Section of Skin 135 

49.— How Tanning Is Done 136 

50. — Cross Section of Pit for Tanning Hides 138 

51.— Spiral Method of Tapping a Rubber Tree .... 141 

52A. — Dry Heat Vulcanizer for Vulcanizing Tires . . . 142 

52B. — Steam Vulcanizer for Vulcanizing Artificial Teeth . 143 
53.— All These Are Made of Calcium Carbonate (CaC0 3 ) 

or Limestone 145 

54. — The Lead in a Pencil and the Diamond in a Ring 

Are Both Crystallized Carbon (C) 146 

55. — Wood and Paper Are the Same Substance; That Is, 

Cellulose (C 6 H 10 O 6 ) 148 

56.— Useful Things That Are Made of Aluminum Sili- 
cate (H 2 Al 2 (Si0 4 )H 2 0) or Clay 150 

57. — Blowing a Lamp Chimney 15 1 

58. — These Substances Make Concrete 152 

59. — Drawn from a Photo-Micrograph of White Lead 

(PB(OH)C0 3 ) 2 157 

60.— Drawn from a Photo-Micrograph of Zinc White (ZnO) 158 

61.— A Box of Artist's Oil Colors 159 

62.— What the Best Ready Mixed Paint Is Made of . . 162 

63— Making Nitrate of Silver (AgN0 3 ) 165 

xvi 



ILLXJSTKATIOSTS 

FIG. PAGB 

64. — Actinic Values for Light of Different Colors .... 168 

65.— A Simple Electric Battery Cell 171 

66.— Kinds of Battery Cells 173 

67.— An Electroplating Outfit 174 

68. — Black and Smokeless Powders 175 

69.— Kinds of Blasting Powders 179 

70.— A Stick of Dynamite 180 

71.— A Miner's Squib 181 

72.— A Safety Fuse with Blasting Cap 182 

73.— A Blasting Machine 183 

74.— An Electric Squib 183 

75.— The Electric Blasting Cap 184 

76. — An Electric Blasting Cap in a Stick of Dynamite . . 185 

77. — How the Connections Are Made for an Electric Blast 186 



xvn 



THF 
AMATEUR CHEMIST 

CHAPTEE I 
THE AIR WE BREATHE 

When this good old Earth of ours was in the mak- 
ing, 1 that is, when it was shot off from the Sun, it 
contained all the elements 2 that are now found 
in or on it. 

In those new planetary days the Earth was simply 
a seething, molten mass like the Sun from whence it 
came and it spun round so fast on its axis that it 
made a complete turn every two hours. 

As long as its heat was so intense it burned up the 
elements that came to the surface of it and the gases 
which were set free from them, but when it began 
to slow down a little and to cool off somewhat, the 
gases were merely driven off and some of these 
formed the atmosphere that now envelops the earth 
and this is the air we breathe. 

1 See "The Books of the Stars" by the present author, pub- 
lished by D. Appleton and Co., New York. 

a An element is a substance which cannot be decomposed into 
any simpler substance. 

1 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

What Air Is Made of.— When we speak of the 
atmosphere we mean the air that surrounds the 
Earth, but that part of it which is in a room, or any 
other small and more or less detached quantity of it, 
we designate as air. 

The atmosphere, or air, is made up of two gases, 
namely, (1) oxygen (O) and (2) nitrogen (N), and 
these are mixed in the proportion of one part of 
oxygen and four parts of nitrogen by bulk. While 
these two elements make up the larger part of the 
atmosphere the latter always has small amounts of 
other substances in it such as carbon dioxide (C0 2 ), 
or carbonic acid gas as it is commonly called, water 
vapor, ammonia (NH 3 ), a trace of argon (A), neon 
(Ne), 'krypton (Kr), and some other rare gases. 3 See 
Fig. 1. 

Now when oxygen and nitrogen are mixed to make 
air they do not combine with each other to form a 
new chemical substance but they just intermingle 
like buckwheat and sand under the digital manipu- 
lation of the ancient storekeeper. 

A Ward About Oxygen. — This wonderful gas is 
found everywhere and in nearly everything here be- 
low. It is the most useful gas we have and it is more 
plentiful than any other element, in fact half of the 
solid crust of the earth, eight-ninths of the water 

8 Lord Raleigh, a British scientist, discovered argon in 1894, 
Sir William Eamsay discovered neon (Greek, new), krypton 
(Greek, hidden) and xenon, pronounced ze-non (Greek, 
stranger), in 1898. 

2 



THE AIE WE BKEATHE 



I MILE OF \ 
OXYGEN 



J3FEET OF t~ 

C/7RBON 

DIOXIDE 



k4 MILES OF 
r NITROGEN 



\Z70FEET0F 
\/?RGON 
I— 5 INCHES OF 
W/ITER 



Fig. 1. What Aib Is Made op 

Diagram showing amounts of parts of air if they were sep- 
arated. 



and one-fifth of the air when measured by bulk are 
formed of it. 

It is hard to realize that it is so abundant be* 
3 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 



cause it cannot be sensed and it is not always easy to 
separate it from the other elements with which it is 
mixed or combined. This is especially true of tak- 
ing it from the air, for it is more or less hard to get 
rid of the nitrogen. 

Oxygen (0) is the great sustainer of animal life; 
it is the great supporter of combustion and it is the 
only gas known that is magnetic. Erom these state- 



•CHLOR/m 

(KC10 3 ) 




BUN3EN 
&URNER' 



Fig. 2. Appaeatus foe Making Oxtgeit 

ments you can deduce without a formula that it is 

a great thing to keep your system well supplied with 

and as it costs nothing see to it that you get your 

full share. 

How to Make a Little Oxygen. — The easiest 

way to get a little oxygen (O) to experiment with is 

to heat some substance which contains it. To do 

this put about % of an ounce of potassium chlorate 

(KCIO3) m a test tube 4 and fix it on a wire stand 

4 Test tubes and other chemical apparatus can be bought of 
L. E. Knott Apparatus Co., Boston. 

4 



THE AIE WE BEEATHE 

so that the lower end of the tube is directly over the 
flame of an alcohol lamp or a Bunsen burner, aa 
shown in Pig. 2. 

Get a piece of glass tube about % inch in diam- 
eter and a foot long and bend it 5 as shown in the 
picture. This done put one end through a cork, or 
better, a rubber stopper, and cork up the mouth of 
the test tube with it. 

Next heat the potassium chlorate (KC10 3 ) and 
when the gas comes off freely fill another test tube 
full of water to expel the air from it and turn it up- 
side down over the tube in a dish of water. When 
the bubbles rise through the water in the tube you 
will know that the oxygen (0) is filling the upper 
part of it. 

Put your finger over the mouth of the test tube 
with the gas in it, still keeping it inverted. JSFow 
light a match and when it is burning well blow out 
the flame so that only a spark remains; put it 
quickly into the test tube, when it will burst out into 
a flame again. It proves that you have oxygen (0) 
in the tube and not ordinary air. 

Potassium chlorate (KC10 3 ) is made up of three 
elements and these are (1) potassium (K), (2) 
chlorine (CI), and (3) oxygen (O). When you 
heat the potassium chlorate the heat drives off the 
oxygen and leaves behind a combination of the po- 
tassium and chlorine, or potassium chloride (KC1) 

* To bend glass heat it in the flame of a Bunsen burner. 

5 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

as it is called, a compound that looks very much like 
common table salt. 

By adding an equal amount (% ounce) of pure * 
manganese dioxide (Mn0 2 ), or black oxide of man- 
ganese as it is often called, to the potassium chlorate 
(KCIO3) the latter will give up its oxygen (O) much 
quicker when it is heated. The manganese dioxide 
is not changed in any way but it greatly helps along 
the action of liberating the oxygen. A substance that 
acts in this way is called a catalytic agent 

How to Make Some Nitrogen. — Although ni- 
trogen forms % of the air we breathe, its only pur- 
pose is to thin down the oxygen and spread it out 
over a larger space, and to keep all of the oxygen 
from burning up when anything is lit in it. Nitro- 
gen is not at all poisonous, but we could not live if 
we had to breathe it alone, for it does not sustain 
life nor can it support combustion. 

To get a small amount of nitrogen you only need 
to ignite a bit of phosphorus (P) and let it burn in 
a crucible floating on some water in a jar as shown 
in Eig. 3. While phosphorus is rather bad stuff to 
handle, it is easy to get the oxygen out of the jar 
with it, for they combine readily and so leaves the 
nitrogen behind. 

Phosphorus (P) is an element and when it burns 
in a small amount of oxygen (O), as in the jar, they 
combine and form solid white particles called phos- 

6 Be sure the manganese dioxide is pure or you may have 
an explosion. 

6 



THE AIR WE BREATHE 

pharos oxide (P 2 5 ) and this drops down and ia 
dissolved by the water. In this way the oxygen is 
gotten rid of and the nitrogen (N) is left. 

As phosphorus (P) is very poisonous it must be 
handled with great care; it must be kept and cut 
under kerosene, to prevent the air from reaching it, 



AIR IN JAR 



PHOSPHORUS (p) 



VlATERINJAR 
(H 2 0) 




NITROGEN (ty 



GLASS JAR 



CRUCIBLE 



WATER IN 
BOWL 



Fig. 3. An Easy Way to Make Nitrogen 



and you should not hold it with your hands. It com- 
bines with oxygen (0) so easily that it catches on fire 
when it is either cut or rubbed in air. 

How Things Burn in Air. — Substances which 
will combine with oxygen (0) do so in two ways, 
and these are (1) violently and (2) gently. 

When oxygen (O) combines violently with some 
other substance we call it combustion, which is a 

7 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

dignified word for burning. But when oxygen com- 
bines gently with something else, the action is called 
oxidation. In the chemical sense though, burning 
and oxidation mean about the same thing. 

Now air has everything to do with the process of , 
burning, for you know that a stove must have a good 
draft if the fire is to burn well, which means that a 
lot of fresh air must blow on the fuel ; of course it is 
the oxygen (0) that is in the air which is com- 
bining with the carbon (C) in the fuel that makes 
it glow or blaze and give out heat. 

On the other hand, oxygen (0) at ordinary tem- 
peratures does not act violently on substances when 
it combines with them and neither does it throw out 
light nor heat. But that it does act there is no doubt, 
for all you have to do is to expose a piece of iron 
(Ee) in air, especially moist air, and it will soon be 
coated with rust, that is, a layer of iron oxide 
(Ee 2 3 ) is formed on it by the union of the oxygen 
in the air with the iron. 

Likewise when oxygen (0) acts on wood and other 
plant matter and animal tissues it combines with the 
carbon (C) in them and in so doing heat is devel- 
oped and carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) is formed. 

The Way We Breathe. — Now let's see just what 
the oxygen of the air which is drawn into our lungs 
when we breathe does to our bodies. 

When we breathe in, or inhale as it is called, we 
draw in through the nose or mouth a certain small 

8 



THE AIR WE BREATHE 

amount of air, 7 and this is carried through the wind- 
pipe into the lungs as shown in Fig. 4. 

On reaching the lungs the oxygen is sifted out from 
the nitrogen (N) and made use of until the nitrogen, 



Bronchia) 
tubes. 

l\ 

! \ 




Fig. 4. Diagram of Small Bronchial Tubes 



which is of no value, and the carbon dioxide 

(C0 2 ), which has heen carried to the lungs by the 

blood on its return through the veins from different 

T About 30 cubic inches of air go into and out of the lungs 
with every breath or a little over 300 cubic feet in twenty -four 
hours. 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

parts of the body, is then breathed out or exhaled, 
as it is called. 

What Our Lungs Are For, — A human lung is 
made up of thousands of little cells, or sacs, filled 
with air; in each of these sacs is one or more tubes 
called capillaries, each as fine as a hair and in which 
the blood flows. A magnified view of an air sac and 
a blood capillary is shown in Fig. 5. 



BLOOD TUBES OR 
CAPJLLARIES 




BLOOD RUNS THROUGH HERE 



EPITHELIAL MEMBRANE 
THROUGH WHICH THE 
OXYGEN DIFFUSES 

Fig. 5. Diagram of an Air Sac and Blood Tubes, or 
Capillaries 



When we inhale a breath of air the little sacs fill 
with it, the life-giving oxygen (0) goes to the blood 
and the waste carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) passes from the 
blood to the air in the sacs and thence we exhale it 
into the outside air. 

How the Gases Pass Through the Sacs. — It is a 
well known fact that a gas can pass through the pores 
of a membrane, and as the air sacs and capillary, or 
blood, tubes, are made of thin membrane, or epithe- 
lial linings, the oxygen (O) from the one and the 
carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) from the other can easily filter 

10 



THE AIR WE BREATHE 

through them. This action is called the diffusion of 
gases. 

What Oxygen Does to Our Bodies. — After the 
oxygen (0) has passed through the pores of the air 
sacs and capillary tuhes the blood charged with it 
flows from the lungs on over to the left side of the 
heart; it is then pumped through the aorta* and 
forced through the system of arteries all over the 
body. 

As the pure, bright red blood passes along, the 
oxygen (0) is taken up here and there and com- 
bining with the tissues of our bodies, which are 
largely formed of carbon (C), the process of burn- 
ing goes on just as oxgyen unites with the carbon 
of the fuel in a stove and this forms carbon dioxide 
(C0 2 ). The result of this chemical action is the 
destruction of our tissues which are renewed by 
other processes and we are thus kept warm and alive. 

How the Carbon Dioxide Is Carried Away. 
— The blood flows back from the different parts of 
the body to the lungs by another set of tubes called 
the venous system. 

As the blood moves along the carbon dioxide 
(C0 2 ), which is a waste product, seeps into it. When 
the dark blood gets back into the lungs it passes from 
the capillary tubes into the air sacs and when we ex- 
hale it, it is forced out into the open air. 

An Experiment With Carbon Dioxide. — You 
don't need to make carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) to see the 

8 The main trunk artery of the arterial circulation. 
11 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

effects of it. All you have to do is to blow through 
a straw, or a glass tube, into a glass of lime water, 
which is the common name for a solution of calcium 
hydroxide (Ca(OH) 2 ). See Eig. 6. 

The moment your breath strikes the solution 
it will turn it milky white. This curious action 
takes place because the carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) in 
your breath combines with the calcium hydroxide 



BUBBLES 
OF CO z 




STRAW OR. 
GLASS TUBE 



LIME WATER 



Fig. 6. An Experiment with Carbon Dioxide 



(Ca(OH) 2 ) and forms solid particles of calcium car- 
honate (CaC0 3 ), which is white. 

How Good Air Is Made Bad. — There are many 
things that make good air bad, and among these is 
breathing the same air over and over again. 

A lighted lamp or a gas jet burns up a lot of 
oxygen (O) and throws off carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) in 
much the same way that a person does. Coal stoves 
often give off poisonous gases which may circulate 

12 



THE AIR WE BREATHE 

through the house, and if these are strong enough 
they may asphyxiate people who are sleeping in the 
rooms. 

Again the air is often fouled, if indeed it is not 
poisoned, by faulty drains, sewers and cesspools, 
while sewer gas is very injurious to health and may 
even result fatally. 

What Breathing Impure Air Does. — It must 
be evident now that if you want good health 
you must have a plentiful supply of good air and 
then breathe it. 

Bad air affects all parts of the body, for if it does 
not actually poison the system it will not have enough 
oxygen in it to keep up the burning process and this 
makes the brain dull, causes headaches, weakens the 
muscles and may in itself produce diseases such as 
rheumatism, etc. 

Moreover, when the vitality of the body is lowered 
for the want of oxygen you are far more apt to catch 
contagious diseases should you be exposed to them. 

The Air Is a Carrier of Disease Germs. — The 
air is the great highway of travel patronized by dis- 
ease germs. If air which is laden with such unto- 
ward germs is breathed, they are drawn into the lungs 
and may lodge there or be carried on by the blood 
to other parts of the body. 

The germs are often mixed up with the dust of a 
room and hence every room should be dusted, not 
with a feather duster but with a soft, moist cloth. 

13 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

Where there is sickness there is even a greater need 
of pure, fresh air and the riddance of dust. 

The dust of the streets fairly swarms with germs 
and the former should therefore he flushed off with 
a plentiful supply of water taken from the city hy- 
drants, or else they should he oiled down. 

How to Ventilate a House. — Of course when you 
are outdoors you get plenty of fresh air, hut this is 
not enough for the needs of your hody and hence you 
must have it in the house, too. 

Cellars should have two oppositely disposed win- 
dows so that the air will have a clear sweep through 
them. Houses are usually well ventilated in summer 
because the doors and windows are kept open, but in 
winter these are kept as tightly closed as possible 
and with stoves going the little air there is is burnt 
up. 

A Simple Way to Ventilate a Room. — A good 
and extremely easy way to ventilate a room in win- 
ter is to raise the lower sash and put a board, say 
4 inches wide, under it. The pure air will then pass 
into the room where the sashes overlap and yet with- 
out setting up a draft. 

The Best Kind of Ventilation.— The best scheme 
for heating a house as far as ventilation goes is a 
hot air furnace because fresh air is brought from the 
outside, heated and then circulated in the rooms. 
Where hot water or steam heating systems are used, 
the right way to ventilate is to build air ducts into 
the walls as shown in Fig. 7. 

14 



THE AIE WE BKEATHE 

How to Make Bad Air Good. — Ozone. — While 
oxygen (0) is an element, it is possible to convert it 
into another gas called ozone (0 3 ) without adding 
anything to it 

The only difference between oxygen (O) and ozone 
(0 3 ) is that the former has two atoms of oxygen in 



WARM 
fRESH-± 



MDMTOR 




COLD 
FRESH 
JJ/R 



Fig. 7. The Eight Wat to Ventilate a House 



a molecule and the latter has three atoms of oxygen 
in a molecule. Ozone is therefore a condensed form 
of oxygen and hence is a more powerful oxydizing 
agent. It also has strong bleaching properties and 
is a powerful disinfectant, which means that it will 
destroy disease germs. When ozone is released in a 
room it cleans out the impurities and so makes bad 
air good. 

15 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 



Ozone and How to Make It. — It is easy to make 
ozone (0 3 ) on a small scale, for all that is needed is 
to pass electric sparks through the air. An induc- 



SPRRK TAKES 
PLACE HERE 






SPARK 
COJL 




Fig. 8. 



BATTERY 
The Spark of an Induction Coil Makes Ozone 



tion coil apparatus, as shown in Fig. 8, will serve 

to generate ozone experimentally, but for purifying 

the air in rooms an electric machine made for the 

purpose must be used. 9 

•For a description of such a machine write the Ozone Pure 
Airifier Co., 206 Broadway, New York. 



CHAPTEE II 
THE WATER WE DRINK AND USE 

In the long ago you learned from your geography 
that three-fourths of the Earth's surface is covered 
with water (H 2 0), but what you may not have 
learned from your physiology is that all kinds of 
plant and animal matter, including the human body, 
are also formed of nearly three-fourths of water. 1 

Now all of this water (H 2 0) originated in very 
much the same way as the air we breathe — that is, 
the gases of which it is made were given off from 
substances burning on the surface of the new born 
Earth, but in this case the gases combined chemically 
and formed a substance that was very much con- 
densed and many times heavier than either of them 
and this is what we call water. 

What Water Is Made Of.— Water (H 2 0) is 
made of two gases called hydrogen (H) and oxygen 
(0) in the proportion of 2 parts of hydrogen to 1 
part of oxygen by volume. These two gases do not 
combine at ordinary temperature, which is a mighty 
good thing, for if they did the world would have 
burned up long ago. 

*That is to say, if all the water could be driven out of a 
man's body which weighed 200 pounds, only 50 pounds of meat 
and bones and other solid matter would remain. 

17 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 



But when oxygen (0) and hydrogen (H) are 
merely mixed in a vessel they form a very explosive 
mixture. If they are then ignited by a flame they 
will explode violently and, of course, intense heat is 
developed, and this makes them combine chemically 



HYDROCHLORh 
ACID 

(HCU) 



GROUND GLASS 




HYDROGEN 
FLAME 



GLASS 
NOZZLE 



ZINC (Zn) 
GRANULES 



Fig. 9. A Hydrogen (H) Making Apparatus 

and form the limpid liquid that we know as water 
(H 2 0). 

How to Make Hydrogen. — The Apparatus Re- 
quired. — I explained in the first chapter how to 
make oxygen (0) and now I'll tell you how to make 
enough hydrogen (H) to do some experiments with. 

Get a 12 or 16 ounce flask, or a wide-mouthed bot- 
tle will do, and fit a cork, or better, a rubber stopper, 
in it. Make two holes in the cork, or stopper, and 

18 



THE WATER WE DRINK AND USE 

into one of them put the end of a glass funnel. Cut 
off a piece of glass tubing and connect it to the end 
of the funnel with a bit of rubber tubing so that 
when you put the cork in the bottle the end of the 
glass tube will nearly touch the bottom. 

Bend another piece of glass tubing to the shape 
of an L and push the long end of it through the 
other hole in the cork. Next draw the end of an- 
other piece of glass tubing down to a point and break 
off the tip, thus making a nozzle of it, or break off 
the stem of a clay pipe and connect it to the glass L 
with a short length of rubber tube, as shown in Fig. 9. 
Finally get a sheet of ground glass, or grease one side 
of a sheet of plain glass, when your hydrogen making 
apparatus is ready to use. 

Making the Experiment, — Get 1 ounce of granu- 
lated zinc (Zn), or cut up a like amount of sheet 
zinc, and put it into the bottom of the flask, or hoir 
tie. Buy five cents' worth of hydrochloric acid (HC1), 
commonly called muriatic acid, pour it into a beaker, 
or a glass tumbler, and with a glass rod or tube stir 
into it an equal amount of water (H 2 0). CAU- 
TION: Be very careful you do not get it on your 
hands or clothes, 

Now pour the solution of hydrochloric acid (HC1) 
into the funnel a little at a time and after every pour 
cover the funnel with the sheet of ground, or greased, 
glass, to keep in the gas. When there is enough 
hydrogen in the flask or bottle it will force out the 
air through the glass tube and nozzle, or pipe-stem, 

19 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

hence you must wait a few minutes before you use it. 
After the air has passed out you can then light the 
gas at the end of the pipe-stem and make other ex- 
periments with it. 

What Takes Place in the Flash. — The instant the 
solution of hydrochloric acid (HC1), which consists 
of hydrogen (H) and chlorine (CI), touches the zinc, 
the latter drives the hydrogen out of the acid and the 
chlorine that remains behind combines with the zinc 
and forms zinc chloride (ZnCl 2 ). By dissolving the 
zinc chloride in a little water you will have a very 
good soldering fluid. 

Kinds of Water.— While all water (H 2 0) is 
formed of hydrogen (H) and oxygen (0), there are 
many kinds, depending on whether it is pure or what 
foreign matter it contains. 

Among these various kinds of water are soft, hard, 
rain, spring, well, potable or drinking, boiler, min- 
eral, boiled, istilled, filtered, aerated, ozonized, dis- 
ease bearing, 3tc, and these will be treated as we go 
along. 

The Uses of Water. — There are more uses to 
which water (H 2 0) is put than any other substance. 
Among the chief uses of water are: (1) It is the nat- 
ural drink for all living things; (2) it also serves 
in a measure as a food; (3) it is the greatest of all 
solvents; (4) it is a cleaning agent; (5) it is used 
to produce power; and (6) it is used to travel on and 
through. 

Water as a Drink and Food. — Before man be- 
20 



THE WATEE WE DKINK AND USE 

came so highly civilized lie drank water (H 2 0) and 
nothing else, nor did he need to. 

The human body requires about two quarts of 
water (H 2 0) a day because that much is thrown off 
in the same length of time as sweat through the skin, 
as vapor by the lungs and as urine by the kidneys. 

All the water (H 2 0) needed to keep the body 
going is not taken into the stomach as drink but it 
is supplied by all kinds of foodstuffs, including bread, 
meat, vegetables and fruits, which are also made up 
of about % part of water. Water is a food in itself 
and it is well known that it will sustain life for a 
long time without any other kind of nourishment 
being taken into the body. 

The Pollution of Drinking Water. — Nearly all 
surface water (H 2 0), that is, water obtained from 
lakes, rivers, cisterns and shallow wells, is polluted 
and contains disease germs, microbes, or bacteria or 
'bacilli as they are called, while springs and deep 
wells are generally free from such germs. 

To be absolutely sure that water (H 2 0) is pure 
enough to drink you should test it, or have it tested. 
The mineral content is not very important as far as 
the health of those who drink it is concerned, but for 
some kinds of industrial uses it is necessary to know 
what minerals it contains and this is determined by 
chemical analysis. But it is the living content, that 
is, the disease germs which may be in it, that is the 
vital thing you want to know about. 

The Chief Kinds of Disease Germs. — These germs, 
21 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

or bacilli, are generally developed in sewage, rub- 
bish heaps and manure piles and are carried by seep- 
age into the surface supply of water. 

The three chief kinds of epidemic germs are known 
as (1) Bacillus coli, which produces cholera; (2) 
Bacillus typhosus, which causes typhoid fever, and 
(3) Bacillus enteritidis, which sets up dysentery and 



B/PCILLUS 
COU 



B/JC/LLUS 
ENTERITIDIS 






B/ICJLLUS 
TYPHOSUS 

(magnified) 



Fig. 10. Kinds op Disease Germs Carried by Water 



other diseases and magnified views of these are shown 
in Eig. 10. 

The Use of the Microscope. — A microscope of very 
low power, see Eig. 11, will show you any number 
of living and dead objects in your water (H 2 0) sup- 
ply. You must bear in mind, however, that very few 
of the living forms of life you see in water are harm- 
ful, for, unlike Germans, some germs are good even 
though they are alive. Eig. 12 shows a drop of 
water greatly magnified. 

22 



THE WATER WE DRINK &KD USE 




/? CODDINGTON 
MAGNIFIER 




a -onr b 



A CHEAP COMPOUND 
MICROSCOPE 

Fig. 11. A Magnifier and a Micboscope 

You can detect sewage in water (H 2 0) from the 
minute particles of foodstuffs, fibers of cotton, hair, 
etc., that are in it. But a microscopic examination of 




Fig. 12. A Drop of Water Magnified 
23 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 



water is of small value unless you know a disease 
germ when you see it, and even then isolating a sin- 
gle one is about as hard as finding a needle in a hay- 
stack. For this reason a culture 2 of gelatine, or some 
other nutrient substance, must be made. 



WATER 

(H Z 0) 



GEL/JTME 




Fig. 13. Preparing the Nutrient Gelatine 

(A) Mixing the Gelatine 

(B) Mixing the Solution 

(C) Pouring it on the capsule 

How to Test Water for Disease Germs.— The 

way to test water (H 2 0) to find if there are disease 
germs in it is to take about 1 cubic centimeter 3 of 
the water and with a pipette, or a medicine dropper, 

a The word culture is used to mean (1) the process of grow- 
ing and multiplying bacteria in gelatine, beef -tea, etc., and 
(2) the bacteria themselves. 

*A centimeter is a shade longer than % of an inch; a 
cubic centimeter is therefore a trifle larger than a %ths inch 
cube. 

24 



THE WATER WE DRINK AND USE 



nm it into about 15 cubic centimeters of sterilized 
gelatine which you have melted over a flame in a test 
tube, as shown at A in Fig. 13. 

!Now mix the water and the gelatine thoroughly 
by rolling the test tube forth and back between the 
palms of your hands, see B, and when this is done 





COLONIES OF GERMS 



B 



Fig. 14. Germs and an Incubator for Germs 

pour it out on a capsule, as at C, that is, a small 
shallow dish, while it is still melted when it will 
form a thin film. Now put the cover on the capsule, 
set it in an oven, or incubator, as shown at A in 
Eig. 14, and keep it at a temperature of about 65 
degrees centigrade 4 for a couple of days. 

4 Centigrade, from centi, which means hundred, and grade, to 
measure. A thermometer scale having 100 divisions between 
its freezing and boiling points. 

25 



THE AMATEUB CHEMIST 

Under this treatment a single germ in the water 
(H 2 0) will develop into whole colonies in the nutri- 
ent gelantine as at B, and they can then be seen as 
little white spots with the naked eye, or you can count 
them with a good magnifying glass, or you can see 
what kind they are with a microscope of fair power. 

How You Can Have Water Tested.— If you 
have only one or two samples of water (H 2 0) to test, 
it is the easiest, cheapest and safest way to have a 
bacteriologist do it for you. Indeed, while it does 
not require much skill to take and test a sample of 
water, there are very few persons who have not made 
a study of the subject who can do either the one or 
the other properly. 

When you take a sample of water (H 2 0) exceed- 
ing care must be exercised or it will be contaminated 
by the bottle not being thoroughly sterilized on get- 
ting your finger, or thumb, into it. Then in making 
the test you must take every precaution to prevent 
germs from the air or from yourself from getting 
into the tube, or capsule, which contains the culture. 

"Now every state and every city of any considerable 
size has a Department of Health, and if you will 
write to it, the medical officer in charge will send a 
man to take a sample of the water (H 2 0) you want 
to have tested; the test will be made in a regular 
laboratory equipped for the purpose, by a trained 
bacteriologist and his report will be sent to you us- 
ually without charge. 

26 



THE WATER WE DRINK AKD USE 

How to Purify Drinking Water.— The chief 
ways of purifying drinking water (H 2 0) are by (1) 
mechanical separation; (2) the coagulation method; 
(3)' chemical action; (4) disinfecting processes; (5) 
biological processes; (6) aeration, and (7) heating. 

(1) In mechanical separation germs and other mat- 
ter are removed by (a) gravity, that is, they fall to 
the bottom; (b) by screening, in which they are 
screened, scrubbed, 5 and filtered out; and (c) by ad- 
hesion, in which they are scrubbed and filtered out. 

(2) In coagulation a sticky substance is introduced 
into the water (H 2 0), which collects the germs and 
other matter, when they are mechanically separated 
and removed. 

(3) Chemical action has only to do with softening 
water, removing the iron and neutralizing such acids 
as may be in it. 

(4) The disinfecting process kills disease germ3 by 
using various chemicals, by ozone, and by violet rays. 

(5) In biological processes germs that are harm- 
less to the human body but which kill the disease 
germs are introduced into the water (H 2 0). 

(6) In aeration the water (H 2 0) is sprayed into 
the air, or else charged with oxygen or carbonic acid 
which purifies it. 

(7) Boiling the water is the one certain way to 
kill disease germs. 

Some of these schemes are suitable only for the 
purification of water (H 2 0) on a large scale as for 
6 This means coarse filtration. 

27 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

industrial purposes and city supplies, while a few 
of them can be used for household needs, and as it 
is the latter we are interested in chiefly in this book 
this is the kind I shall explain. 

Mechanical Separation. — Filters. — Eor household 
use a good charcoal and sand filter will not only sep- 
arate out the foreign matter but also nearly — but not 
all — of the disease germs, as well as objectionable 
odors and tastes. 

Eull directions for making a good filter of this 
kind are given in my Home Handy Booh, published 
by D. Appleton and Co., of New York, and a de- 
scription of the Pasteur water filter will be found in 
my book, The Amateur Mechanic, published by the 
same house. 

The Coagulation Method. — Water (H 2 0) which 
has particles of matter suspended in it can be puri- 
fied by coagulation, that is, making them collect into 
larger amounts, when they will fall to the bottom of 
the vessel. 

This is done by putting some aluminum hydroxide 
(Al(OH) 3 ) in it, and, as it is a sticky substance, the 
particles of matter stick to it; then some calcium 
salts, or other alkali, are added to the water (H 2 0), 
when the aluminum hydroxide is precipitated, that is, 
it falls to the bottom and carries the impurities 
with it. 

By Heating. — Boiled Water. — This is not only the 
easiest but the surest way to kill off all disease germs 
and make drinking water (H 2 0) safe for the home. 

28 



THE WATEK WE DKINK AND USE 

Boiling it once, though, will not kill all the germs, 
so, to be on the safe side, boil it twice and each time 
for 15 minutes. 

Distilled Water. — To get absolutely pure water 
(H 2 0) it must be distilled. To do this the water is 
heated in a closed vessel and changed into steam; it 
is then carried through a pipe surrounded by cold 
water. The water causes the steam to condense, that 
is, to change back into water again, when it trickles 
down into a receiving vessel. How to make a simple 
apparatus for distilling water for home use is also 
explained in The Amateur Mechanic above referred 
to. 

Water as a Solvent.— Water (H 2 0) is the great- 
est solvent known, that is, it will dissolve a larger 
number of substances than any other liquid, hence it 
is very useful in our daily lives. 

Water (H 2 0) will not dissolve the common metals 
but it must be added to most acids to make them act 
vigorously on metals. Water will, however, dissolve 
a large number of gases and thus solutions are made 
which are useful in the home and important in the 
industries. 

Water as a Cleaning Agent.— The cleaning 
properties of water (H 2 0) are due to the fact that it 
soaks off, dissolves and combines chemically with so 
many different kinds of substances which, when on 
our bodies or our clothing, we call dirt. As a clean- 
ing agent it will be described in Chapter IX. 

29 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

Soft and Hard Water.— Soft Water.— By soft 
water (H 2 0) is meant water that is free from lime- 
stone. Bain water is the softest kind of natural wa- 
ter, while distilled water is the softest and purest that 
can be made. 

Hard Water. — When the water (H 2 0) of streams 
and rivers flows over chalk, limestone or marble they 
absorb particles of calcium carbonate (CaC0 2 ), that 
is, limestone, and calcium sulphate (CaS0 4 .2H 2 0) 
or gypsum, as the latter is called, and the result in 
either case is to make the water hard. 

Temporary Hardness. — When water (H 2 0) con- 
tains calcium carbonate (CaC0 2 ) it gives it what is 
called temporary hardness. This can be gotten rid of 
either (1) by boiling, or (2) by adding a little lime, 
that is, calcium oxide (CaO), to it; the lime pre- 
cipitates the calcium carbonate and it is this decom- 
position that makes the fur in the kettle. 

Permanent Hardness. — When water (H 2 0) has 
calcium sulphate (CaS0 4 .2H 2 0) in it, it has what 
is called permanent hardness — that is, boiling will 
not remove it. It can, however, ba softened to 
some extent by adding a little carbonate of soda 
(Na 2 C0 3 ), or sal soda, or washing soda as it it 
variously called; this will precipitate the calcium 
as calcium carbonate (CaC0 2 ) and leave the soda 
as sodium sulphate (K"a 2 SO 4 .10H 2 O), or Glauber's 
salt, in the water. 

The Use of Water in the Industries. — Besides 
calcium there are twenty or more other kinds of min- 

30 



THE WATER WE DRINK AND USE 

eral substances to say nothing of the large amounts 
of organic 6 matter that are contained in water from 
various sources, and for industrial uses most of these 
are harmful. 

Water (H 2 0) for brewing, bleaching, concrete, 
dyeing, ice making, washing, paper making, soap 
making, steam boilers, sugar refining, tanning and 
many other industries must be free from impurities. 

The Chemical Analysis of Water. — If you are 
starting a plant where water (H 2 0) is to play an 
important part have it analyzed by a good reliable 
chemist and the best way to do this is to write to the 
Director of the Bureau of Standards, Washington, 
D. C, and he will send you the name of a competent 
chemist in your locality. 

Should you want to analyze it yourself you can get 
the apparatus and the chemicals you need of Eimer 
and Amend, Third Avenue and 18th Street, New 
York; and also get at the same time from them 
Masons book called The Examination of Water. 

Treatment of Boiler Water. — To make a boiler 
last long and burn as little fuel per horsepower hour 
as possible you must use pure water (H 2 0) in it. 

Where hard water is supplied to a steam boiler 
the steam passes off and the mineral salts are left 
behind. The result is that a thick coating called 
boiler crust forms on the boiler tubes and this pre- 

•In chemistry the word organic means matter that con- 
tains carbon as an essential ingredient and all living matter 
does. More recently organic matter includes carbon com* 
pounds of an artificial nature. 

31 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

vents the heat from passing freely from the tubes to 
the water. 

As this crust is a poor conductor of heat when it 
gets to be % inch thick it will take twice ua much 
fuel to keep up the same amount of steam. 'Not only 
this but the crust is liable to make the tubes get red- 
hot and this greatly shortens the life of the boiler, 
and may even cause it to explode. 

The Remedy. — Temporary "hardness of water 
(H 2 0) can be gotten rid- of by boiling it before it is 
pumped into the boiler, or it can be removed by add- 
ing water in which calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH) 2 ), 
that is, slacked lime, has been stirred in, when it is 
called milk of lime. 

Permanent hardness can be removed by adding 
sodium carbonate (Na 2 C0 3 ) which has been dis- 
solved in water, but it must be used in proportion to 
the hardness of the boiler water. 

When water (H 2 0) has both hinds of hardness so- 
dium hydroxide (]STaOH), which is crude caustic 
soda, is dissolved in water and added to the water to 
be used, the amount again depending on the quantity 
of calcium salts in the water. 

In the permutite process the water (H 2 0) is fil- 
tered through a coarse kind of sand called permutite 
(ISTaP), when the calcium in the water is left behind 
and the sodium in the permutite is carried along with 
the water. The sodium has no effect on the boiler. 

After the permutite has been used for twelve hours 
it is covered with a ten per cent solution of sodium 

32 



THE WATEE WE DRINK AND USE 

chloride (NaCl), which is common salt, and after 
standing another twelve hours it is ready to use again. 
The salt is the only thing that is used up, and this 
is cheap. 

This process removes calcium, magnesium and 
other salts in the same way, and if used as above 
directed the charge will last for twenty years. 



CHAPTER III 
THE FOOD WE EAT 

Have you ever wondered as you watched a hum- 
ming bird hover over a honeysuckle and poke its long, 
slender bill into a flower to feed upon the sweets 
therein, whether its bill was made for the flower or 
the flower was made that the little ruby-throat might 
live? 

The same question is open concerning man and his 
foods, that is, was man evolved so that he could use 
the foods which grew willy-nilly, or were they all es- 
pecially made for him so that he might not perish 
from the earth? These are things to think about. 

Why You Must Have Food. — The human body 
is often likened to a steam boiler and engine in that 
it must have air, water, fuel and oil to keep it going. 

Like an engine the human mechanism uses these 
materials to develop power and in either case a wear 
and tear goes on that tends to destroy them with the 
result that in the end they must both go to the scrap 
heap. 

Different from an engine, though, the human body 
is self-repairing, unless it suffers too badly through 
neglect, by disease, or meets with an accident. But 

34 



THE FOOD WE EAT 

when in health these replacements are made, not all 
at once by putting in a separate part as in an engine, 
but the air you breathe, the drink you take and the 
food you eat not only develops power but they make 

ts 

li 

■ $ * c w 

S S § yjA 





Fig. 15. What the Human Body Is Made of 



up for the worn-out products of your body as you 
live along. 

What the Human Body Is Made Of. — Like wa- 
ter, acids, gases and salts the human body is a chemi- 
cal substance, but is a complex one, for it is formed 
of fifteen elements, see Fig. 15, as follows : 

35 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 
1 Oxygen(O) 65 per cent 9 Sodium(Na) . . 0.15 percent 



2Hydrogen(H)... 10 
3gCarbon(C) 18 

4 Nitrogen(N) ... 3 

5 Calcium (Ca) ... 2 
6Phosphorus(P).. 1 
7Potassium(K).0.35 
8Sulphur(S)....0.25 



10,Chlorine(Cl)....05 

11 Magnesium(Mg).004 " 

12 Iron(Fe) a trace 

13Iodine(I) " " 

14 Fluorine(F) . . . ." " 
15Silicon(Si)....." " 

Total 100 per cent 



100 per cent = The Human Body. 

How the Elements Are Combined. — These va- 
rious elements are combined to form (1) the bones, 
(2) the proteins, (3) the fats and (4) the fluids of 
the body. 

The bones are made up chiefly of calcium (Ca) 
and phosphorus (P) ; the proteins, which are the lean 
parts of the flesh, are formed of nitrogen (N), 
iron (Fe), and sulphur (S) ; the fats consist of 
palmetic acid (C 16 H 32 2 ), stearic acid (C 18 H 36 2 ) 
and oleic acid (C 18 H 34 2 ) combined with glycerine 
(C 2 H 8 3 ) ; the fluids of the body contain sodium 
(Na), potassium (K) and so on. 

Kinds Of Foodstuffs. — There are three kinds of 
foodstuffs used by human beings, and these are 
(1) minerals, (2) plants, and (3) meats. 

What Plants Are Made Of. — As you know, water 
(H 2 0) is formed of hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) 
when they are combined chemically. 

Plants are built up of the same elements as those 
of the human body and like the latter they must have 
air, water and food to nourish and make them grow, 
but they take them in a very different way. 

That is, plants can use only simple substances such 
36 



THE FOOD WE EAT 

as carbon dioxide (C0 2 ), water (H 2 0), potassium 
(K), sodium (^Na), and other solids; and the latter 
must be dissolved in the earth before they can be 
absorbed by the plants. Oppositely, man uses only 
complex substances such as plants and the flesh of 
animals, and the fluids which dissolve them are made 
in his own wonderful laboratory, namely, the diges- 
tive tract; hence these processes are called digestion. 

The meats of fish, animals and fowls are formed 
of proteins and fats just the same as they are in man. 

What Foodstuffs Are Made Of. — The materials 
of which the above foodstuffs are made can be di- 
vided into four general classes and these are (1) the 
proteins, (2) the carbohydrates, (3) fats and oils, 
and (4) mineral matter. 

The Proteins and How They Are Digested. — The 
proteins are made up of nitrogen compounds and 
these are vitally concerned with the processes of life. 
All living matter must contain nitrogen and with- 
out this gas there could be no such thing as life. One 
of the most familiar kinds of protein is the white 
of an egg y which is albumen. 

The chief digestive fluid in the stomach which acts 
mainly on proteins is the gastric juice, and this con- 
sists of dilute hydrochloric acid (HC1), lactic acid 
(C 3 H 6 3 ) and pepsin, the latter being an enzyme, 
that is a chemical compound of vegetable origin 
which causes a chemical transformation. These 
enzymes are produced in the living cells of tissues. 

When the protein of a food stuff is eaten the saliva 
37 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

in the mouth has no effect on it, but when it reaches 
the stomach the hydrochloric acid (HC1) changes it 
into a substance called syntonin (C 14 4H224N 36 S0 4 2). 
The pepsin decomposes the syntonin and changes it 
into peptones, 1 which can be dissolved by water. 

The proteins are not completely dissolved in the 
stomach but go on into the small intestine in which 
the pancreatic juice finishes up the work. This juice 
contains trypsin, 2 and this breaks up the peptones 
into ammo-acids, 3 when they pass through the walls 
of the intestines into the blood. The blood then cir- 
culates through the arteries and carries and distrib- 
utes these builders to all parts of the body. 

The Carbohydrates and How They Are Digested. 
— When you look at a lump of starch (C 6 H 10 O 5 ) and 
a lump of sugar (C 12 H 22 11 ) they do not seem to 
be very much alike, but, like electricity and magne- 
tism, they are very closely related. 

To determine this all you have to do is to chew a 
little starch and you will find it turns into sugar, 
which is caused by the chemical action of the saliva, 
or rather the ptyalin, which is an enzyme in the 
saliva, and hence it ferments the starch. 

Now the carbohydrates are a group of food mate- 
rials which, as you can guess from the name, contain 
carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O). The 
carbohydrates are found chiefly in plant foods and 

1 That is soluble substances. 
"This is a kind of enzyme. 
3 These acids are the clearage products of the proteins, that 
i* they are formed when the proteins break up. 

38 



THE FOOD WE EAT 

are made up mostly of starch. They are also found 
in milk and cheese and sweet fruits in the form of 
sugar. 

When you eat a food that contains starch you sel- 
dom keep lu in your mouth long enough for the ptya- 
lin in the saliva to change all of the starch into sugar, 
but when the starch reaches the small intestine the 
process is completed by another enzyme called amylop- 
sin, which is contained in the pancreatic juice, with 
the result that only sugar remains. 

When this process is finished still another enzyme, 
called maltase, breaks the sugar up into glucose 
(C 6 H 12 6 ), which is yet sugar but less sweet than 
ordinary sugar. The glucose then niters into the 
blood, where it circulates through the arteries. Sugar 
is the chief food that builds up the body and helps 
to keep it warm. 

Fats and How They Are Digested. — Eat appears 
in milk in very small drops and these are distributed 
evenly all through it, or emulsified as it is called. 
When this fat, which is butter fat, reaches the stom- 
ach it is decomposed by an enzyme called lipase, in 
the gastric juice, and this changes the fat into acid 
and glycerine. 

When fat is taken into the stomach in larger 
amounts it is decomposed and the acid in it is dis- 
solved. This is done by the lipses 4 that are in the 
bile, which is the first part of the small intestine, and 

4 Plural of lipase. 

39 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

into the latter the pancreatic duct and the bile duct 
from the liver opens. 

Both the acids and the glycerine then seep through 
the intestinal wall and when they get into the blood 
they again combine and make fat. A part of this 
fat goes to build up the tissues and part of it mixes 
with the oxygen (0) in the blood and oxydizes, which 
is a kind of slow burning process, and this makes 
heat and develops power. 

Mineral Matter as Food. — Water (H 2 0) is classed 
as a mineral food because it is neither plant nor ani- 
mal. It is used in the human body for diluting the 
various substances which form the juices used to dis- 
solve and break up food materials. 

Chief among the active minerals we eat as food 
is sodium chloride (NaCl), or common table salt. It 
is very necessary to the health of man and also the 
other animals. It is found in many plants and in 
all parts of the human body, the total amount in the 
latter being about a pound. Chlorine (CI) and 
hydrochloric acid (HC1) are made from it and the 
latter is, as you have seen, an agent in the gastric 
juice. 

There are other kinds of matter needed to keep 
the human mechanism in working order, but they are 
used only when combined with other foods. 

What Cooking Does to Foodstuffs. — Some 
foodstuffs such as milk and eggs, clams and oysters, 
fruits and vegetables can be eaten raw, but nearly 
all foodstuffs are improved by cooking. 

40 



THE FOOD WE EAT 

Almost from the time primordial man branched 
off from the tribe of simians, he learned that when 
foodstuffs were cooked they were made more tender 
and certainly tasted better. In more recent times 
man found out that cooked food is more healthful and, 
what is of greater importance, that cooking kills the 
germs or bacilli which so often infect raw food- 
stuffs. 

When proteins are cooked some kinds like albumen, 
as the white of egg, and haemoglobin, which is blood 
protein, coagulate, while collagen, which is the con- 
nective tissue of meat, when boiled in water (H 2 0) 
forms a colloidal suspension 5 and gelatine results. 
Thus meat when basted if underdone so that the 
water in it will not be driven off is much more tender 
than if it is overdone. 

When carbohydrates like bread, potatoes and the 
like are cooked the grains of starch swell up and 
break and this gives the enzyme in the digestive 
tract a better chance to mix with them and so makes 
them digest easier and faster. 

Cooking fat does not help it to be digested any 
easier, but if the fat is burnt it produces compounds 
which when in free air hurt the eyes and when eaten 
inflame the digestive tract. So don't burn the fat, 
please. 

Fuel Values of Foodstuffs.— Enough foodstuffs 

must be eaten to keep your body at a constant tem- 

6 The term colloidal suspension means a solution in which 
some finely divided substance, called a colloid, is distributed 
evenly through it. 

41 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

perature of 98f degrees Fahrenheit or else you will 
go into a decline. 

To keep up this heat you require foodstuffs having 
certain food values. The latter are measured with a 
calorimeter, that is, an apparatus for measuring the 
quantity of heat they can give by burning them. 6 

!Now the calorie is the unit of heat and is the 
amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 




e 

6EEF £GGS* CHEESE MMQNQS 

t03 145 4/5 732 

CfiL CfiL CfiL 



ISOO 
CfiL 



/620 
CfiL 



Fig. 16. Comparative Cost of Fuel Values of Foods 



one gram of water one degree centigrade. This 

called a small calorie and is written with a little 

A large Calorie, written with a big C, is equal 

1,000 small calories. 

It has been found that the average fuel values 

foodstuffs per gram for: 

Proteins = 4 Calories 

Carbohydrates = 4 Calories 
Fats = 9 Calories 

or in pounds the average fuel values are: 

Proteins = 1,800 Calories 

Carbohydrates = 1,800 Calories 
Fats = 4,080 Calories 

•See Chapter V for a description of the calorimeter. 
42 



is 
c. 
to 

of 



THE FOOD WE EAT 

Percentage of Food Material in Foodstuffs. 

— The following table shows the percentage of food 
materials in like amounts of various plant and ani- 
mal foodstuffs. 

Percentage of Pood Materials in 100 Parts of 
Foodstuff. 







Food Materials 






Foodstuffs 




Carbo- 










Proteins 


hydrates 


Fat 


Water 


Ash 


Lean beef 


22.1 




2.9 


73.8 


1.2 


Codfish 


15.8 
14.8 




.4 
10.5 


82.6 
73.7 


1.2 


Eggs 


1. 


Milk 


3.3 


5. 


4.2 


87. 


.7 


Butter 


1. 

27.7 


i'.i 


85.2 
36.8 


11. 

27.4 


3. 


Cheese 


4. 


Oatmeal 


16.1 


67.5 


7.2 


7.3 


1.9 


Wheat Flour.... 


13.3 


72.7 


1.5 


11.9 


.6 


Dried Beans .... 


22.5 


59.6 


1.8 


12.6 


3.5 


Green Corn 


3.1 


19 7 


1.1 


75.4 


.7 


Potatoes 


2.2 


18.4 


.1 


78.3 


1. 


Lettuce 


1.2 


2.9 


.3 


94.7 


.9 


Almonds 


21. 


17.3 


54.9 


4.8 


2. 



The Amount of Food You Should Eat. — As a 

general proposition if you are in good health you 
should eat a mixed diet, that is, one of plants and 
meats. If you are doing brain work, such as turning 
out a book every two months, you should eat about 
3% ounces of proteins each day and enough of the 
other food materials to bring up the fuel values to 
2,200 Calories a day. 

43 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

But if you are doing manual labor, as, for instance, 
plowing the east 80, you need fuel values of at least 
3,800 Calories. !Now by consulting the foregoing 
table you can find the amounts of foodstuffs needed 
to make up the food materials you require. 

Thus you know the number of Calories that are 
contained in a pound of given food material, and the 
foregoing table gives you the percentage of the food 



CARBOHYDRATES OR 
NON- NITROGENOUS 
COMPOUNDS 




TO GET STRONG 



PROTEINS 

MINERAL 
MATTER 

WHAT TO EAT 
TOBEBRAINY TOGETF/JT TOGETSUM 

Fig. 17. Scientific Eating 



materials in given foodstuffs ; hence all you have to 
do to find the number of Calories in a pound of a 
given kind of foodstuff is to multiply the percentage 
by the Calories, 

For example, the above table shows lean beef to 
contain 22.1 (= .221) per cent of protein and 

.221x1,800 Cal. = 398 Cal, 
which is the number of Calories contained in lean 
beef. 

44 



THE FOOD WE EAT 



Prices and Fuel Values of Foodstuffs. — In the 

following table the fuel values of some of the food- 
stuffs have been worked out in the way shown above 
and arbitrary prices have been appended so that you 
can easily figure out the kinds of foodstuffs you can 
buy to get the highest fuel values for the least amount 
of money. 

TABLE OF PRICES AND FUEL VALUES PER POUND AND CALORIES 
PER 10 CENTS 





Price 

per 

Pound 


Calories per 


Pound 


Calories 


Foodstuffs 


Protein 


Carbo- 
hydrates 


Fat 


JTotal 


per 
10 cents 


Lean Beef 

Eggs 


50 cents 
48 " 
50 " 
10 " 
10 " 
5 " 
80 •« 


398 
266 
500 
290 
249 
40 
378 


""74 

1,215 

1,309 

331 

311 


118 

428 

1,500 

294 

61 

4 

2,240 


516 
694 
2,074 
1,799 
1,619 
375 
2,929 


103 
145 




415 




1,800 


Flour 


1,620 




1,500 




732 







Fig. 16 shows graphically the comparative fuel 
values of foods per 10 cents, while Fig. 17 shows 
what to eat 



CHAPTER IV 
HOW FOODS ARE CAMOUFLAGED 

To live long on the face of the earth and to live 
well while you are living long, the foods yon eat must 
not only be of the right kind but they have got to be 
wholesome as well. 

In the first analysis there are only two kinds of 
foods and these are (1) 'pure foods and (2) impure 
foods. !N"ow pure foods can in general be defined 
as those which when properly eaten will nourish your 
body, will not distress you, make you ill, or, worse 
luck, cause your untimely taking off. 

Curiously enough foods that are doctored, or cam- 
ouflaged, to use a favorite bellum word, are not neces- 
sarily impure foods nor are foods that have not been 
tampered with by the hand of the profiteer pure 
foods, within the meaning of the law. So now let's 
see if we can find out (1) just what doctored foods 
are, (2) how they are made so, and (3) how to test 
them to find out whether they are or not. 

What Impure Foods Are. — There are ^ve ways 
by which foods are manipulated so that they fall 
legally under the head of impure foods and these are 
(1) by extracting the nutritious parts of them; (2) 

46 



HOW FOODS AEE CAMOUFLAGED 

by adulteration; (3) by deception; (4) by substitu- 
tion, and (5) by adding poisonous substances to them. 

Skimmed milk is an example of bow a nutrient 
part of a food can be extracted. Adulterated foods 
are those (a) in which some injurious substance has 
been put; (b) which are not up to the standard in 
food value; (c) which are sold for something that 
they are not, and (d) when they fail in some other 
way to come up to the requirements of the pure food 
laws. 

Foods sold by deception include those that are 
(a) coated or colored, and (b) those whose labels are 
misleading. Substitution means a food that is made 
to imitate another, as oleomargarine which is an imi- 
tation of butter, when it is sold as the genuine ar- 
ticle. 

When such elements as lead (Pb), copper (Cu) 
and arsenic (As) are used to preserve foods they 
poison them more or less and they are thus made im- 
pure. While all preservatives of this kind are in- 
jurious, certain coloring matter, even aniline dyes, 
are quite harmless. 

Milk, the Great Food. — The food that is most 
largely used by human beings is milk and since it 
is an animal product in liquid form, it largely deter- 
mines the status of health of a community. 

What Milk Is. — Milk is an emulsion formed of 80 
to 90 per cent of water in which there is dissolved 
from 2 to 6 per cent of casein, 1.5 to 9 per cent of 
milk-sugar, 0.1 to 2 per cent of mineral salts and 2.5 

m 



THE AMATEUB CHEMIST 

to 6 per cent of fat, and it fairly swarms with "bac- 
teria. 

Cream is the fat of the milk obtained from it 
either by letting it rise and skimming it off, or by 
using a machine called a cream separator. After the 
cream has been so separated from it shim milk re- 
mains and this contains the casein. Casein is a pro- 
tein compound and when either pure or skim milk 
have acids or rennet added to them, they coagulate 
the casein and this forms cheese. 

Butter is the fat of the milk when it is separated 
from it as by churning and buttermilk is the milk 
left after the fat has been churned out of it. Butter- 
milk is often made of sweet skim milk by putting in 
some bacteria which forms lactic acid (C 3 H 6 3 ) and 
which curdles it, and a little sweet milk is now added 
and they are churned together, when a very fair imi- 
tation buttermilk results. 

To make evaporated milk, skim milk is evaporated 
when only the water passes off and all of the solids 
remain. 

How Milk Is Doctored. — There are five chief ways 
that milk is doctored and these are (a) by diluting 
it with water; (b) by skimming off the cream; (c) 
by replacing the skimmed off cream with cheaper ani- 
mal fats; (d) by coloring it to make it look rich, and 
(e) preserving it with chemicals to correct and keep 
it sweet. 

How Milk Is Tested. — Diluted milk is tested with 
a lactometer, see Fig. 18, an instrument which shows 

48 



EOW FOODS AKE CAMOUFLAGED 



f==* 



r\ 



s 




M/LK 



B 



A- LACTOMETER 

B- LACTOMETER JAR 

C- LACTOMETER fN USE 

Fig. 18. A Lactometer fob Testing the Density of Mile 




Fig. 19. An Optical Lactoscope fob Testing the Quality 
of Milk 

49 



THE AMATEUB CHEMIST 

its density, that is, its specific gravity. Skimmed 
milk is detected with a lactoscope, as shown in Pig. 
19, and which shows the quality of the milk by its 
translucency. 

Coloring matter, such as annotto, 1 is not harmful, 
nor are borax (Na 2 B 4 7 ), salt (!N"aCl), or sodium 
carbonate (N"a 2 C0 3 +H 2 0), that is, soda, when 
these are used as preservatives, hut formalin, which 
is a solution of formaldehyde (CH 2 O.H 2 0) and 
water (H 2 0), is harmful. To test for formaldehyde 
put about three teaspoonsful of concentrated sul- 
phuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) in a test tube and add a little 
ferric chloride (EeCl 3 ) to it. In another test tube 
put about five teaspoonsful of the milk to be tested ; 
tilt the tube slightly, pour the sulphuric acid solution 
on the side of the tube and let it run slowly into the 
milk. 

If there is formaldehyde in the milk when the two 
liquids mix they will make a violet-colored solution. 

Counting Bacteria in Milk. — The quality of the 
milk depends very largely on the number of bacteria 
there is in it and the way to find out how many there 
are is to count them. 

To do this make a sterile medium of gelatine and 
then pour it in a dish. When cold pour on a given 
quantity of milk and very soon the bacteria will be- 
gin to thrive on it and each one will multiply and 
become the center of a colony which can be seen with 

1 This is a yellowish red vegetable dyestuff used for coloring 
milk, cheese and butter. 

50 



HOW FOODS AEE CAMOUFLAGED 

the naked eye, or better, with a magnifying glass. 
Yon can then easily count the colonies and so find 
the nnmber that are in the milk. 

How to Make Milk Safe. — The only way to make 
milk at all safe for general use is to Pasteurize it, 




Fig. 20. Koenig's Apparatus foe Analyzing Butteb 



that is, heat it for twenty minutes at a temperature 
of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, This kills most of the 
bacteria, including whatever disease germs there may 
be in it. 

Butter and Its Substitutes.— Butter is the fat in 

milk in its purest form. The usual adulterants are 
those used to (1) increase its weight and (2) to give 

51 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

it a pleasing color. The former includes water, but- 
termilk, cheese, oleomargarine and salt, and the lat- 
ter annotto and aniline yellow, none of which are 
harmful. 

Renovated butter is made by melting poor butter 
and then blowing a current of air through it when 
the bad odor is blown out and the bacteria settles to 
the bottom and takes the bad taste with them. 

Oleomargarine is an imitation butter and was origi- 
nally made from beef fat, but it is now made of oleo- 
oil, lard, milk, cream and real butter worked together 
and colored. When it is pure it is as nutritious as 
real butter but without the latter worked in it it lacks 
the butter flavor. 

How to Test for Butter. — Put a tablespoonful of 
the product in a test tube and heat it. If it is real 
butter it will boil gently and make quite a lot of foam, 
while renovated butter and oleomargarine will crackle 
loudly and foam but very little. A butter analyzing 
apparatus is shown in Eig. 20. 2 

The Staff of Life.— Flour and Bread.— Flour is 
the pure ground meal of any cereal, but the word 
flour is generally taken to mean wheat flour. Elour 
is formed of water, starch with a little sugar, gluten 
and a little mineral matter. 

Once upon a time wheat flour was adulterated with 
ground gypsum and with corn flour but since the na- 
tional flour law was passed these practices are out of 

'Apparatus of all kinds for testing foods can be bought of 
Eimer and Amend, 18th Street and Third Avenue, New York. 

52 



HOW FOODS AEE CAMOUFLAGED 

date. Flour is whitened with: ammonium alum 
((NH 4 ) 2 S0 4 Al 2 (S0 4 ) 3 , 24H 2 0), that is, common 
alum, and copper sulphate (CuS0 4 +H 2 0), that is, 
blue vitriol ; while alum is not harmful blue vitriol is 
always dangerous. 

How to Test Bread. — A test for both alum and 
blue vitriol is to dissolve some gelatine in water and 
spread it on a slice of bread dipped in a solution of 
logwood 3 and ammonium carbonate (!N"H 4 HC0 3 ) in 
alcohol (CH3OH). If now there is alum in the 
bread it will turn blue, but if copper sulphate has 
been used it will turn green. 

About Yeast and Baking Powders. — Bread is flour 
mixed with water, or milk, and to which yeast, or 
baking powder, has been added to make it rise and 
it is then baked. 

Before the bread is baked it rises because the yeast 
germs, or the baking powder, liberate carbon dioxide 
(C0 2 ) and the minute bubbles of this gas stick to 
the gluten of the flour ; when it is baking the heat ex- 
pands the gas and this makes it rise. The pores in 
the bread not only make it easy to eat but it allows 
the saliva to reach every part of it. 

There are three kinds of baking powders and these 
are (a) alum, (b) tartrate, and (c) phosphate, but 
the base of all of them is sodium bicarbonate 
(£TaHC0 3 ), that is, baking soda. One is about as 
good as the other as far as leavening the bread is 
concerned, but the use of alum is more harmful than 
" " This is a brownish-red dyestuff. See Chapter X. 

53 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

the tartrate or phosphate, but bread made with yeast 
is the most wholesome. 

How to Test for Alum, — Put half a teaspoonful of 
the baking powder you want to test in a beaker or a 
glass, and pour a quarter of a glass of water on top 
of it. Let the gas escape, then add % an ounce or 
so of hydro chloric acid (HC1) and filter the solution 
to remove the insoluble starch. Add a few drops of 
barium chloride (BaCl 2 ) solution to the filtrate and 
if there is alum in the powder a white precipitate will 
be thrown down. 

Concerning Camouflaged Meats. — Meats may 
be unfit for food for any one of a number of reasons. 
Thus, if it is a pale pink it was probably diseased 
when slaughtered, and if it is dark purple the chances 
are that it was not killed but died a natural death. 

Meat that is diseased usually has a bad odor unless 
preservatives have been used upon it. If you will 
place a piece of litmus paper against a piece of meat 
it will turn red if it is fresh, or blue, or remain neu- 
tral, if preservatives have been used. 

The chief preservatives of meats are (a) boric 
acid (H3BO3), (b) sulphur dioxide (S0 2 ), which is 
used when dissolved in water and forms sulphurous 
acid (H 2 S0 3 ), which not only preserves the meat but 
gives it a nice red color, and (c) benzoic acid 
C 7 H 6 2 ). Potassium nitrate (KN0 2 ), that is, salt- 
peter, also colors meat red but it does not preserve it 
to any extent. 

While chemical coloring and preserving may not 
54 



HOW FOODS ARE CAMOUFLAGED 



be harmful like all other food doctoring, they make it 
possible for the dealer to sell products which should 
not be eaten. 

The Sweetness Called Sugar. — The sweet com- 
pound called sugar (C 12 H 22 11 ) is obtained almost 
entirely from the sugar cane, see A in Fig. 21, and 
the sugar beet 

In the early days it was adulterated with marble 



THEFLOW££ 






THEBERKYSPLn 
FORMING BEStMS 



B 



R 

THE SUG#/Z 

Fig. 21. Sugar and Coffee and Tea 



/? COFFEE Bf?/?A/Ctf 
ANP&ERR/ES 



J? TE/7 BRANCH 



dust and terra alba, that is, pipe clay, but pure sugar 
can be produced so cheaply now that it doesn't pay to 
camouflage it. Sand used to be a favorite adulterant 
for brown sugar, but since it has been made an indict- 
able offense glucose (C 6 H 12 6 ) has been used instead. 
It is not harmful but as it is not as sweet it is a de- 
ception. 

Coffee, the Good Poison.— While the effects of 
coffee may be wholly bad it is great as a cerebral ex- 

55 



THE AMATET7B CHEMIST 

citant when it comes to writing books but for this 
purpose you must get the mild, yellow Java and 
blend it with the full, pungent Mocha. A coflee 
plant is shown at B. 

What coffee has not been adulterated with is not 
worth mentioning: roasted peas, beans, chicory, 
dandelion, turnips, parsnips, carrots and roots, while 
the chief coloring matter is caramel, that is, sugar 
which has had the water driven out of it by heat. 
None of the adulterant or coloring matters are harm- 
ful, but it takes a perverted taste to prefer coffee 
mixed with them to the pure stuff with all the poison 
in it. 

A simple test for coffee is to put a little ground 
sample into a glass of water and let it stand. If 
it is adulterated each particle of foreign matter 
will color the water surrounding it a sickly brown. 
When this happens it is your cue to change your 
brand. 

Tea, the Old Beverage. — The tea tree, pictured 

at C, has been cultivated in China ever since the be- 
ginning of the Christian era, but it was not intro- 
duced as a white man's drink until the sixteenth cen- 
tury. 

The flavors and odors of tea are not inherent in 
the leaves, but are the result of the way in which they 
are treated. A large number of other plants have 
leaves that have been used as substitutes for and to 
adulterate tea with, but practically all of the standard 

56 



HOW FOODS ARE CAMOUFLAGED 

teas now sold in the open market are rated 85 to 
100, that is, starred, by Dr. Wiley. The chief decep- 
tions practiced are in misleading labels which claim 
that the tannin and caffein have been removed from 
the teas, inflating their food value, etc. 



CHAPTEK V 
THE FIRE WE COOK AND HEAT WITH 

Fire was the first and it has always been the great- 
est of civilizing agents. The fearful destructiveness 
of fire and yet its cheerful warmth has done more to 
make man think than any other one force in nature. 

It was certainly known to the original Aryans — 
those primitive people from whom the present races 
of Hindus, Persians, Greeks, Latins, Celts and An- 
glo-Saxons branched off — for in Sanskrit, which was 
the original language of the Aryans, their word for 
fire was agir, while to-day the Latin's word for fire 
is ignis and we use the word ignite when we mean to 
start a fire. 

About Chemical Change. — When you feel the 
heat of a thing that is burning and can see its light 
you know, of course, that a change of some kind is 
going on in it. 

Now there are two kinds of changes that can be 
made in matter and these are (1) physical change and 
(2) chemical change. 

Everything that has to do with motion, such as 
sound, heat, light, magnetism and electricity, is called 
physical change, while everything that has to do with 

58 



THE FIKE WE COOK AND HEAT WITH 

the changes in the composition of a suhstance is called 
chemical change. In the final analysis, however, all 
physical and chemical changes are related for wher- 
ever yon have the one there you will find the other. 

Now there are many ways by which a chemical 
change is brought about but the two most common 
ones are (1) by contact, that is, by bringing two sub- 
stances together, and (2) by fire. For example, in 
the first case when water (H 2 0) comes in contact 
with iron (Fe) the latter slowly combines with the 
oxygen (O) of the water and the red earthy powder 
that results is ferric oxide (Fe 2 3 ), that is, oxide of 
iron, or just plain iron rust as it is called, thus 

Iron in contact with Oxygen makes Ferric Oxide. 
Fe + O >- Fe 2 3 

But when a substance hums, as, for instance, the 
carbon (C) in coal, it unites quickly with the oxygen 
(O) of the air and it not only develops heat but at 
the same time it sets the carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) that 
is in it free, thus: 

Carbon in contact with Oxygen makes Carbon Dioxide. 

C + O — >- co a 

What Fire Is. — As you found in Chapter I air 
supplies the oxygen in unlimited amounts for burn- 
ing, or combustion as it is called, and it has been 
shown by experiments that only % of the air, which 
is oxygen, is useful in making things burn and that 
the other % part of the air, that is, the nitrogen 
(N), does not help along the action of burning at all. 

Fire, then, is the chemical combination of the 
59 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

thing which is burning with the oxygen of the air or 
other substance containing it in which the action takes 
placa The sense in which we use the words fire, 
turning and combustion is that a chemical change 
is going on which gives off both light and heat. The 



Fig. 22. Watchspbing Burning in Jar of Oxygen 

common metals will not burn in air and a high tem- 
perature is needed to melt most of them. 

But iron will easily burn in pure oxygen (O) as 
you can demonstrate by a simple experiment. Make 
a jar of oxygen as described in Chapter I; then take 

60 



THE FIRE WE COOK AKD HEAT WITH 

the main spring of a watch, straighten it, put it into 
the jar of oxygen as shown in Fig. 22 and light it, 
when it will burn with the brilliancy of an arc-light. 

The Kindling" Temperature. — Very few sub- 
stances will combine with the oxygen of the air at 
ordinary temperatures fast enough to make them 
ignite; hence before they can be made to burn the 
substance, be it wood, coal, gas or fuel oil, must be 
heated to a certain temperature first and this is called 
the Mndling temperature. 

This is a noble provision of nature for otherwise 
all combustible materials would catch fire the instant 
they came in contact with the oxygen of the air. The 
kindling temperature varies for different substances 
but it has nothing to do with the temperature pro- 
duced by the substance when it is burning. 

What Heat Is. — Matter is anything that takes up 
room and it is made up of atoms, molecules and 
masses. A mass, or piece, of matter is composed of 
molecules, which are particles of matter so minute 
that it would take eight billions of them put together 
to make a mass big enough to be seen by a miscro- 
scope of fairly high power. 

Kow when a substance burns, the violent chemical 
action sets the molecules into rapid motion, or vibra- 
tion as it is called, in turn these movements set the 
molecules of the air into vibration and as these im- 
pinge on the thermal nerves of the body they set up 
the sensation of heat. 

61 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

How Heat Is Transmitted. — When heat passes 
through a mass of matter, as a piece of iron, the 
process is called conduction, but when it is carried 
along in a stream through the air or a liquid it is 
called convection. 

How Heat Develops Power. — Any substance 
which can combine with any other substance has 
chemical energy stored up in it and it can, therefore, 
be used to produce power. When substances combine 
rapidly with oxygen, that is, when they burn, heat 
is generated and this can be changed into mechanical 
motion by means of some kind of a heat-engine, such 
as a hot-air, gas or a steam engine. 

What Temperature Is.— The temperature of a 
body is its power to heat other bodies and it is 
measured in degrees. Do not mistake quantity of 
heat for temperature for they are two quite different 
things. 

A red-hot coal taken from a furnace may have the 
same temperature as the burning coal on the grate 
but you can see that the quantity of heat of the first 
would be far less than that of the second. 

How Heat Is Measured. — The temperature of a 
body, that is, the degree of heat, is measured by a 
thermometer and the kind in general use is a glass 
tube having a very small bore, which is filled with 
mercury and the tube is then sealed. 

There are two kinds of thermometric scales in use 
in this country and these are (1) the centigrade, used 

62 



THE FIKE WE COOK AND HEAT WITH 



BO/UNG 



ZIZ- 


- POINT ' 


-too 


zoo - 

190- 






-90 


(80- 
170- 






-80 


160- 






-70 


150- 








/40- 






-60 


130- 








tzo- 






-50 


f/O- 








100- 






-40 


90- 
80- 






-30 


70- 






-ZO 


60- 








50- 






-10 


40- 
3Z- 


FREEZ/NG 

- POJNT 


- 


zo- 

10- 






-10 


0- 






k^ 


i 


► 


i 


1 


F/MREN) 


iEIT 


cem 


'JGRflDE 



Iig. 23. Fahrenheit and Centigrade Scales Compared 

in scientific work and (2) the Fahrenheit, used in 
every day life, and both are shown in Fig. 23. The 
freezing and boiling points of these two scales are: — 



Fixed Points 

Freezing Point 
Boiling Point 



Centigrade 

degrees 
100 degrees -f- 

63 



Fahrenheit 

32 degrees -f- 
212 degrees + 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

Consequently the scale of the centigrade thermom- 
eter is divided into 100 equal parts, and that of 
the Fahrenheit thermometer is divided into 180 equal 
parts; this makes a change of 5 degrees centigrade 
equal to 9 degrees Fahrenheit. To convert centi- 
grade readings into Fahrenheit readings and the 
other way ahout use these formulas: 

Centigrade = f X (number of deg. Fahr. — 32 deg.) 
Fahrenheit = f X (number of deg. C. + 32 deg.) 

What Fuel Is. — The word fuel in its ordinary 
sense means any kind of matter that can be burned 
to make heat. 

!Now there are three general classes of fuels and 
these are (1) solid fuels, (2) liquid fuels and (3) 
gaseous fuels. Solid fuels include wood and char- 
coal, peat and lignite, and coal and coke; liquid 
fuels comprise plant and animal oils, petroleum and 
shale oils, and alcohol, and gaseous fuels consist of 
natural and artificial gases. 

The valuable element of a fuel of any kind is the 
carbon (C) in it for, as you have seen, when carbon 
combines with the oxygen of the air it results in the 
burning of most of the matter which contains it. 

All of the fuels contain other elements besides 
carbon (C), such as hydrogen (H) and oxygen (0), 
but the fuel that contains the most carbon will give 
the greatest amount of heat. The kind of a stove, 
furnace or engine you intend to burn the fuel in and 
its safety and cost must also be considered in buying 
your fuel. 

64 



THE FIEE WE COOK AND HEAT WITH 

The Origin of Fuels. — The source of all fuels as, 
indeed, everything else in and on this old earth of 
ours, is the sun. 

Wood is, of course, the larger growth of plants, and 
it gets its heating energy from the sun, that is, it is 




f\- PEAT 




C- SOFT COAL 




B" LIGNITE 




D- HARD COAL 



Fig. 24. Coal in the Making and When Made 



the heat and light of the sun that make it take in 
carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) which is in the air and soil 
and fix the carbon (C) in it. 

Peat, see A in Eig. 24, is decayed plant matter 
that has started to turn to coal but which lacks sev- 
eral thousand years of having completed the process* 

65 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

Lignite, or brown coal as it is called, is partly car- 
bonized plant matter; it is shown at B. 

Coal was formed by various plant growths which 
fell on the ground for countless centuries and were 
covered with water ; this kept the air from acting on 
them and so they slowly decayed or oxidized as it is 
called. The oxygen (O) and the hydrogen (H) in 
the plants passed off through the water and nearly 
pure carbon remained behind. 

There are two kinds of coal, namely, (1) bitumi- 
nous, or soft coal, and (2) anthracite, or hard coal. 
Bituminous coal contains a lot of volatile matter, 
that is hydrocarbons which evaporate rapidly at low 
temperatures and hence soft coal is used for mak- 
ing gas, and coal-tar products are obtained from the 
residuum. Anthracite is nearly pure carbon and 
burns almost without flame. 

Petroleum is a thick, crude oil, of a brown or 
greenish-brown color. It is found in many parts of 
the world and is held in air-tight pockets in the 
strata. Usually there is water (H 2 0) in the pockets 
with it and the former was compressed when the oil 
was in the making, consequently when a boring is 
made the oil often gushes up to considerable heights. 
When the oil is not under hydrostatic pressure it has 
to be pumped up. 

The origin of natural gas is the same as that of 
petroleum, that is, it is formed by the slow decay of 
plant matter. 

Charcoal is made by heating wood in a closed iron 
66 



THE FIRE WE COOK AND HEAT WITH 

retort, or by stacking it, covering it with earth and 
then burning it. This drives out all the gases and 
leaves nearly pure carbon (C). The old and the 




A — Fig. 25. Old Way of Making Charcoal 

new way of making charcoal are shown at A and B 
in Fig. 25. 




B — Fig. 25. New Method op Making Charcoal 

Coke is made from coal just as charcoal is made 
from wood, that is by heating it in a closed retort. 

Vegetable and animal oils are pressed from the 
seeds of plants and rendered from the fats of ani- 

67 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

mals respectively. These are formed of esters, as 
the product of an acid acting on an alcohol is called, 
the latter being the glycerine that is in the fats or in 
the seeds. These oils must not be confounded with 
mineral oils which are mixtures of hydrocarbons. 

Mineral oils both for lubrication and fuels are ob- 
tained by fractional distillation from petroleum. 
This is done by heating the petroleum in a closed 
vessel to varying temperatures when gasoline, naph- 
tha, benzine and kerosene evaporate from it and are 
collected separately. After these have passed over 
the heavier oils used for lubricating machinery are 
given off and finally only a heavy residual oil is left 
and from this solid paraffin is obtained. 

Why Fuels Should be Tested. — You cannot tell 
the value of a fuel by the way it looks. There are 
only two ways by which the value of a fuel can be 
known and these are (1) to test it, and (2) to burn 
it in the same way and under the same conditions 
you are going to use it. 

To get the most heat out of a fuel for the least 
amount of money you must have (A) a fuel whose 
quality and nature are best suited for the work it is 
to do and (B) the way in which you use the fuel 
must be the right one. 

What the quality of a fuel is and whether it is 
worth what you pay for it can be found by testing 
it, that is (a) measuring its heat of combustion, or 
calorific power as it is called; (b) making a proxi- 
mate analysis, which includes a determination of the 

68 



THE FIEE WE COOK AND HEAT WITH 



moisture, volatile matter, -fixed carbon and ash in it, 
and (c) testing the quantity of sulphur it contains. 

As the apparatus for making this test is rather ex- 
pensive and as a chemist makes a charge of about 
$10.00 per each sample of coal he tests, testing 
the fuels for home use is not a very practical 
scheme, but where you are using large amounts of 



EUSE 
WIRE 




LECTRICAl 
CONTACT 



THERMOMETER 



CRN 



'LLEY 



INSULAT- 
ING JACKETS 



BOMB 

WDEREOCOAL 




BINDING 
POST 



WlNGTOSTtR 
WATER 
'BOMB CONTAIN- 
ING COAL 



WATER 



p/vor 



CROSS SECT J ON OF 
CALORIMETER? 



CROSS SECTION OF BOMB 

A and B — Fig. 26. How the Parr Bomb Calorimeter Is Made 



fuel for industrial purposes you should by all means 
either make the tests yourself or have it done for you, 
for constant testing is the "watch-dog of the coal 
pile." 

How Fuels Are Tested.— The Bomb Calorimeter. 
— A calorimeter in its simplest form consists of (1) a 
bomb, or cartridge, as shown at A in Eig. 26, which 
holds the charge of fuel to be tested. 

The bomb is fitted with a fuse wire connected to 
a battery so that the charge can be fired by an elec- 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

trie current. The bomb is pivoted in (2) a can and 
is arranged to revolve in it, and (3) a thermometer 
completes the apparatus as pictured at B. 

How the Calorimeter Works. — It is simplicity it- 



THERMOMETER*. 



READING LENS 







f* 








fc 






S 








^* 








^ 




-o- 


\ 1 







ELECTRIC 
MOTOR 
Q~ THE CALORIMETER COMPLETE 

C — Fig. 26. The Parr Calorimeter Eeadt to Use 



self. If the fuel is a solid, such as coal, it is pow- 
dered and sifted and one gram is weighed out and 
put in the bomb with an equal amount of potassium 
chlorate (KC10 3 ), which supplies the oxygen for the 
fuel to burn in. 

70 



THE FIRE WE COOK AND HEAT WITH 

The bomb is then set in the can in whicb 2 liters * 
of water have been put ; the f uel charge is fired and 
the bomb revolved rapidly when the burning fuel 
heats the water surrounding it. The rise in the 
temperature of the water is shown by the thermom- 
eter and this is checked up against a combustible 
of standard calorific values which is furnished by 
the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C. 

Testing by Proximate Analysis. — The amount of 
water sl fuel contains is found by weighing out 1 
gram 2 of the fuel, heating in a drying oven at 105 
degrees centigrade for 1 hour and then weighing it 
again. 

The volatile matter in a fuel is found by weighing 
out a sample as before, burning it in a furnace and 
then weighing it again. The ash is determined in the 
same way. The fixed carbon is found by a difference 
in the weight of the other three factors of the proxi- 
mate analysis, that is, the sum of the percentages of 
moisture, volatile matter and ash is deducted from 
100 per cent. The sulphur content is found either 
with an apparatus called a sulphur photometer, see 
Fig. 27, or from the washings of the bomb calorim- 
eter. 

Complete and detailed descriptions for making the 
above tests can be had by writing to the Bureau of 
Mines, Washington, D. C, for Technical Paper, No. 
76, called Notes on the Sampling and Analysis of 



1 About 2 quarts. 
'About 1/10 ounce. 



71 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

Coal. For calorimeters and other fuel testing appa- 
ratus write to Eimer and Amend, 18th Street and 



Third Avenue, New York, for Bulletin No. 



FUNNEL 



200. 




MEASURING 
FU7SK sr 



^a BUNSEN BURNER 



Q ERLENMEYER 
Y\J>FUVSK 



Fig. 27. A Sulphur Photometer to be Used with the 
Calorimeter 



How to Save Fuel in the Home. — The Bureau 
of Mines, Washington, D. C, have issued a bulletin 
called Saving Fuel in Heating a House. It tells how 
to practice fuel economy at home and will be sent 
you for the asking. 



CHAPTEE VI 
SOLVENTS AND WHAT THEY DO 

A liquid that will dissolve a substance is called a 
solvent, the substance which is dissolved is called a 
solute and both of them together is called a solution. 

While water (H 2 0) will dissolve more substances 
than any other one liquid, there are many it has no 
effect on and chief among these are the metals, but 
there is a class of solvents that one, or another, or a 
combination of them will dissolve the metals and 
these are the acids. 

What Acids Are. — A compound, be it a solid, a 
liquid or a gas, is an acid only when it contains hy- 
drogen (H). An acid can readily exchange part or 
all of its hydrogen for a metal, or a base when a new 
compound called a salt is formed. 

[Nearly all acids also contain oxygen (0) and when 
this is united with some other element, let's say sul- 
phur (S), the latter gives its name to the acid; thus, 
sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) contains 2 parts of hydro- 
gen (H), 1 part of sulphur (S), and 4 parts of oxy- 
gen (0). 

The Three Chief Acids. — There are dozens of 
acids but the three most important ones are (1) sul- 

73 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

phuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) ; (2) hydrochloric acid (HC1) 
and (3) nitric acid (KN0 3 ). 

How to Make Sulphuric Acid. — The Appara- 
tus. — To make a little sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) is a 
pretty costly experiment but if you are bent on doing 
so get the following apparatus and set it up as shown 
in Fig. 28. 

(1) A combustion retort; (2) a U-tube; (3) a 




SULPHUR 



SULPHURIC ACID 



HSPlRATQft 



Fig. 28. Apparatus fob Making Sulphueic Acid (H^OJ 



wide-mouth bottle with, a rubber stopper having two 
holes in it; (4) a glass tube; (5) a washing bottle 
to which is fitted (6) an aspirator, that is, a device 
for drawing a stream of air through the apparatus; 
(7) a funnel with a stop-cock in its neck and (8) a 
beaker. 

The Experiment. — Eirst put some sulphur (S) 
in the combustion retort, next fill the U-tube with 
absorbent cotton to rid the gases of sulphur dust, 
then nearly fill the bottle with glass beads and pour 

U 



SOLVENTS AND WHAT THEY DO 

some concentrated sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) over 
them. 

These things done, put some 'platinized asbestos 1 
in the tube and set yonr Bunsen burner under it. 
Fill the funnel with water and let it drip into the 
large tube; set the aspirator to working; light the 
Bunsen burner and finally ignite the sulphur (S). 

Now See What Happens. — Bear in mind that sul- 
phuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) is sulphur trioxide (S0 3 ) dis- 
solved in water (H 2 0). When the sulphur (S) 
burns it combines with the oxygen (O) of some of 
the air and forms sulphur dioxide (S0 2 ). This and 
the rest of the air passes through the cotton in the 
U-tube which collects the sulphur dust from the 
gases; the latter then flows through the bottle and 
the moisture they contain is absorbed by the sul- 
phuric acid. 

The clean, dry gases now pass through the tube 
containing the hot platinized asbestos and it makes 
the sulphur dioxide (S0 2 ) combine with more oxy- 
gen of the air when sulphur trioxide (S0 3 ) is 
formed. When this gas comes in contact with the 
water in the large tube the water (H 2 0) absorbs it 
and sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) results. 

The Uses of Sulphuric Acid. — This acid is very 
cheap and more of it is made and used than any other 

1 Platinised asbestos is made by soaking the fibers of asbestos, 
or mineral wool as it is called, in chloroplatinic acid 
(H 2 PtCl 3 ) ; this acid, in turn, is made by dissolving platinum 
(Pt) in aqua regia, that is hydrochloric acid (HC1) mixed 
with nitric acid (HN0 3 ). 

75 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

kind. It is employed to clean iron which is to be 
tinned or galvanized, in making other chemicals and 
fertilizers, as a clarifier for kerosene and other oils 
and for numerous other purposes. 

How to Make Hydrochloric Acid.— The Ap- 
paratus. — It is easy to make a small amount of 
hydrochloric acid (HC1), or muriatic acid as it is 



SULPHURIC 
/?C/D(H Z S04) 

SODIUM 
CHLOR 

IDE(fiaCl) 



W/?T£R 

(Hz.0) 




OR HYDROCHLORIC /Idti 



Fig. 29. Appabatus foe Makeng Hydbochlobic Acid 



called, for all you have to do is to get (1) a couple 
of test tubes, (2) a piece of bent glass tube, (3) a 
ring stand and (4) a Bunsen burner. 

The Experiment. — Hydrochloric acid is simply 
hydrogen chloride gas (HC1) mixed with water 
(H 2 0). This gas is very soluble in water for 400 
to 500 volumes of it will dissolve in 1 volume of 
water at room temperature, that is, about 70 degrees 
Fahrenheit. 

To make it, put about 15 grains troy weight of 
76 



SOLVENTS AND WHAT THEY DO 

sodium chloride (NaCl), or common salt, into one 
of the test tubes and pour a teaspoonful of water 
on it 

Fix one end of the bent tube in one of the test 
tubes with a cork; fasten the test tube to the stand, 
as shown in Eig. 29, and place the other end in the 
other test tube into which you have put a little water 
(H 2 0). Now hold a Bunsen flame under the first 
test tube and there will be a direct union of the 
hydrogen (H) with the chlorine (CI). 

This Is What Happens. — The reaction that takes 
place is this: The sodium chloride (NaCl) and the 
sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) combine and make sodium 
sulphate (Na 2 S0 4 ) which is a salt and this remains 
behind in the test tube ; the hydrogen chloride (HC1) 
which is a gas passes down through the bent tube 
where it mixes with the water in the lower test tube, 
and this makes hydrochloric acid (HC1H 2 0), or to 
write it as a formula: 

Sodium Sulphuric Sodium Hydrogen 

chloride acid makes sulphate chloride 

Nacl + H 2 S0 4 — *" Na 2 S0 4 + HC1 & 

In a formula an arrow pointing up shows that the 
substance is a gas. 

The Uses of Hydrochloric Acid. — When this 
acid is brought into contact with zinc (Zn), iron 
(Fe) and some other metals, it gives up its hydrogen 
(H) and takes the metals up in its place. Thus 
when it acts on zinc (Zn) you get, 

77 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 



Hydrochloric . T 
Zinc acid makes 


Zinc 


chloride Hydrogen 


Zn + HC1 2 — ► 


ZnCl 2 + HA 



The zinc chloride when dissolved in water makes 
a good soldering fluid. In Chapter III you will re- 
member it was stated that the gastric juice contains 
small amounts of hydrochloric acid (HC1 2 ) and mi- 

SULPHURIC 



SPONGE 




#£TOf?T 



SODIUM ft 
WTRATE 
(NaN0 3 ; 



WATER 



Fig. 30. Apparatus for Making Nitric Acid (EQSTOs) 



nute dosages of it are prescribed by doctors for in- 
digestion. Hydrochloric acid is used on a large scale 
for making chlorine (CI) which, in turn, is used to 
make bleaching powder, etc. 

How to Make Nitric Acid.— The Apparatus. — To 
make nitric acid (HN0 3 ) get (1) a 2-ounce glass 
retort with a stopper in it, (2) a test tube and fix the 
retort to it, and (3) a stand, as shown in Fig. 30. 

The Experiment. — Put one ounce of sodium nir 
78 



SOLVENTS AND WHAT THEY DO 

trate (NaN0 3 ), that is, Chili saltpeter, and f ounce 
of sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) into the retort. 

Now heat the retort a little when nitric acid 
(HN0 3 ) will he evaporated from it and will pass 
into the test tnhe as a vapor. To condense it into 
a liquid let some cold water trickle from a sponge 
onto the test tuhe when nitric acid (HN0 3 ) will fall 
in drops to the bottom. 

What Happens. — When the sodmm nitrate 
(NaN0 3 ) is heated with the sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) 
they comhine and make sodium sulphate (NaHS0 4 ) 
and nitric acid (HN0 3 ), or the reaction can be writ- 
ten thus : 

Sodium Sulphuric Sodium Nitric 

nitrate acid makes sulphate acid 

NaN0 3 + H2SO4 — *~ NaHS0 4 + HN0 3 

Making Nitric Acid From the Air. — Since air 
is formed of f nitrogen (N) it is evident that there 
is an endless supply of this gas if it could be ex- 
tracted from the air and fixed in some form so that 
it could be used. 

Now nitrogen and oxygen have no tendency to 
combine at ordinary temperatures but when these 
gases are heated to 2,000 or 3,000 degrees centigrade 
they will combine and form nitric acid (NO) which 
is also a gas. 

To fix the nitrogen from the air, that is, make 
nitric acid of it, continuous electric sparks, see Fig. 
31, are made to take place in air flowing in a tube 
and the heat makes nitric oxide (NO) of it; this is 

79 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 



cooled when it combines with more oxygen (O) of 
the air and this makes nitrogen tetr oxide (N0 2 ) ; 
the air containing the latter is then passed through 



COOUHG 



£x,r 



\Entrjuic§ 



Fig. 31. Making Nitric Acid from the Aie 



an absorbing tower in which water (H 2 0) trickles 
down. 

Nitrogen tetroxide (I$r0 2 ), which is a brownish 
80 



SOLVENTS AND WHAT THEY DO 

red gas, when it comes in contact with the water 
(H 2 0) is absorbed by it and the resulting liquid is 
nitric acid (HN"0 3 ). 

The Uses of Nitric Acid. — This acid easily dis- 
solves silver (Ag) but has no effect on gold (Au) or 
platinum (Pt) except when it is mixed with hydro- 
chloric acid (HC1 2 ) or aqua regia as it is then called. 

Mtric acid (HN"0 3 ) acts differently on most 
metals than the other acids for instead of hydrogen 
(H) being displaced from it only an oxidation re- 
sults. When nitric acid acts on various substances, 
such as potassium (K) and sodium (Na), nitrates 
are formed and these are valuable for fertilizers, 
making gun-powder, celluloid, dyes and drugs. 

Aqua Regia, the King of Waters. — This is the 
name the alchemists gave to a mixture of nitric 
(HN0 3 ) and hydrochloric acids (HC1 2 ) and they 
gave it this name because it is the only known solv- 
ent for gold (Au), the king of metals. It will also 
dissolve platinum (Pt), which is now much more 
costly than gold. 

Next Come the Bases. — Bases, or hydroxides as 
this class of compounds is called, are the alkalies, 
and these are formed of hydrogen (H) and oxygen 
(0) with any one of a number of elements. 

Now just as sulphuric, hydrochloric and nitric 
acids are the most common acids so sodium hydroxide 
(!N"a(OH)), commonly called soda, potassium hy- 
droxide (K(OH)), called caustic potash, and cal- 
cium hydroxide (Ca(OH) 2 ), which is slacked lime, 

81 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

are the most common bases. In each case you will 
see the OH in brackets and this means that the oxy- 
gen (O) and hydrogen (H) act the same as if they 
were a single element. 

Curiously enough acids have the power of destroy- 
ing the alkalinity of bases and, oppositely, bases de- 
stroy the acidity of acids so that if you mix exactly 
the right amount of each they will neutralize each 
other. You can easily tell whether a substance is 
an acid or a base by testing it with litmus paper, 2 
for if the paper turns red it shows the substance is 
an acid and if it turns blue it shows that it is a base. 

You have seen that an acid is a substance which 
contains hydrogen (H) and which is easily ex- 
changed for a metal when they are made to react on 
each other ; on the other hand a base is a substance 
which contains a metal in combination with hydro- 
gen and oxygen (OH). "Now there is a third and 
still again a fourth class of substances which are 
neither acids nor bases and these are salts and the 
metals. 

What Salts Are. — Since a salt is formed of both 
an acid and a base it must be a neutral substance 
and it is. Further, just as an acid contains hydrogen 
(H) as a radical 3 and a base contains the hydroxyl 
(OH) as a radical so a salt always contains a neu- 
tral. 

a This kind of test paper is called an indicator. 

9 A radical is an atom or an element, or a group of either, 
that will not decompose like other compounds when ordinary 
chemical reactions take place. 

82 



SOLVENTS AND WHAT THEY DO 

There are four ways in which a salt can be formed 
and these are (1) when an acid acts on a hose, and 
this makes water and a salt; (2) when an acid acts 
on a salt, and this gives a salt and an acw2; (3) when 
a soi£ acts on a sa2£ and this gives two salts, and, 
finally, (4) when a frose acts on a sai£ it gives a frase 
and a sai£. The chief salt is of course sodium chlor- 
ide (NaCl), that is common salt. 



CHAPTER VII 
ABOUT METALS AND THEIR USES 

In the last chapter I told you that there is a class 
of suhstances which is different from acids, bases and 
salts, and this is the metals. 

What Metals Are. — It is by no means easy to 
give a definition of the metals and yet when you see 
them you will instantly recognize them as such. The 
usual way of describing a metal is to say that it is 
opaque, has a metallic luster and is a good conductor 
of electricity. Chemically a substance that has the 
power to displace the hydrogen of acids and form 
salts is a metal. 

How Metals Occur in Nature.— -Metals are 
found in nature in two ways and these are (1) free, 
that is, in practically the pure state, and (2) mixed 
with other substances. They occur in the latter state 
in (a) minerals, or ores as they are called, and (b) 
in silicates, etc., as for instance aluminum (Al) in 
clay. 

The Activity of the Metals. — By activity is 
meant the power with which a metal displaces hydro- 
gen from dilute acids and water. Potassium (K) 
is the most active metal and each following in the 

84 



ABOUT METALS AND THEIE USES 

list is less active until hydrogen is reached while all 
the metals below it do not set it free. 

TABLE OF ACTIVITY 



13 Potassium (K) 


2 Tin (Sn) 


12 Sodium (Na) 


1 Lead (Pb) 


11 Lithium (Li) 


Hydrogen (H) 


10 Calcium (Ca) 


1 Copper (Cu) 


9 Magnesium (Mg) 


2 Bismuth (Bi) 


8 Aluminum (Al) 


3 Antimony (Sb) 


7 Manganese (Mn) 


4 Mercury (Hg) 


6 Zinc (Zn) 


5 Silver (Ag) 


5 Chromium (Cr) 


6 Platinum (Pt) 


4 Iron (Fe) . 


7 Gold (Au) 


3 Nickel (Ni) 





The Various Kinds of Metals. — There are many 
metals but the above list contains all the common 
ones and their characteristics, preparation and uses 
will be given in sequence. 

Potassium (K). — Its Characteristics.— The let- 
ter K which comes from Tcalium, the Latin word for 
potash, is used for its symbol because P stands for 
phosphorus. 

Potassium is a silvery white metal with a bluish 
tinge; it is the softest metal known and can be 
molded with your fingers at room temperature; it 
is the second lightest metal, having a specific gravity 
of 0.86; it melts at 144.5 degrees Fahrenheit, which 
is 67.5 degrees less than that at which water boils, 
and this is the third lowest melting point of the 
metals. 

When thrown in a dish of water it is so active 
that it displaces the hydrogen of the water with great 

85 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

violence when the heat ignites the gas and frees the 
metal, and these actions make it shoot along a zigzag 
line on the surface as shown in Fig. 32. 

Its Source and Preparation, — Potassium (K) is 
found in wood ashes and in many rocks. It is never 




Fig. 32. Action of Potassium on Wateb 
(Broken line shows path of burning potassium) 

found free but it can be obtained from potassium 
chloride (KC1) which is very plentiful. 

To extract the metal the potassium chloride is 
melted and a current of electricity is passed through 
it when the pure metal (K) collects at the negative 
pole and chlorine (CI) at the positive pole. 

Its Uses. — The metal itself is useful only to show 
its action on water as an experiment. It burns with 
a reddish-violet color and hence, any compound con- 

86 



ABOUT METALS AND THEIR USES 

taining the slightest trace of the metal can be de- 
tected bj spectrum analysis. 1 

It is the compounds, though, of potassium which 
are valuable; thus the hydroxide (KOH), which is 
caustic potash, is used in making soap and other 
compounds of potassium, while the nitrate (TCrTQ 3 ), 
which is saltpeter, is used for preserving ham and 
cornbeef and for making fireworks and gunpowder. 

Sodium (Na). — Its Characteristics. — The sym- 
bol (Na) comes from the Arabic word natrum which 
means soda. It is a silvery white metal when pure; 
has a specific gravity of 58.5, melts at 204 degrees 
Fahrenheit and behaves in water and in other re- 
spects like potassium (K). 

Its Source and Preparation. — It is found in com- 
mon salt and in many rocks. It is largely prepared 
by passing a current through sodium hydroxide 
(N~aOH) in the same manner as that used in making 
potassium (K). 

Its Uses. — The only use of the pure metal is in 
making laboratory experiments, but in combination 
with other elements it is of the greatest importance. 

Thus with chlorine (CI) it forms sodium chloride 
(ISTaCl), which is common salt, and salt is not only 
valuable as a food but it is used as the starting point 
for making sodium and chlorine compounds of all 
kinds. Salt is gotten from large salt deposits in 
various parts of the world. 

1 Spectrum analysis is made by means of a spectroscope a 
description of which will be found in any text-book on physics. 

87 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is caustic soda, 
is largely used in making soap, for bleaching and 
preparing paper pulp and in many other ways. 

Sodium nitrate (NslN0 3 ), which is Chili salt- 
peter, is one of the great sources of nitric acid 
(HNOg) and large quantities of it are converted 
into potassium nitrate (KN0 3 ) which is used in 
making gunpowder. 

Sodium (No.) burns with an intense yellow color 
and chemists make use of this fact in detecting its 
presence when analyzing a compound. 

Lithium (Li).*—- Its Characteristics. — In Greek 
lithium means stone and as the metal lithium is 
found in stony minerals it comes honestly by its 
name and symbol. 

It is far from resembling a stone, however, for it 
is the lightest metal known, having a specific gravity 
of .53, and likewise it is the lightest known solid. 
It looks very much like sodium (Na) and has the 
characteristics of it and potassium (K) but it is al- 
most as hard as aluminum (Al). 

Its Sources and Preparation. — It is found in 
spodumene and other rare minerals. The method 
of extracting it is very like that of sodium (Na) 
and potassium (K). 

Its Uses. — The pure metal is only of use in the 
laboratory. Compounds of lithium (Li) are used 
in fireworks because they give a splendid red color 
to the flame. Carbonate of lithium (Li 2 C0 3 ) is 
used in medicine as a solvent for uric acid. Traces 

88 



ABOUT METALS AND THEIK USES 

of the metal are widely distributed in the soil and 
are used as a food by plants, especially beets and 
tobacco. 

Calcium (Ca). — Its Characteristics. — It gets its 
name from the Latin calx, which means lime. The 
metal when pure is silver-white, has a specific gravity 
of 1.7 and melts at a bright red heat. When thrown 
through the air against a brick wall it ignites and 
burns with a bright white flame. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It is found in 
enormous quantities in calcium carbonate (CaC0 3 ) 
such as limestone, marble and chalk. The metal is 
obtained by passing a current through fused calcium 
chloride (CaCl 2 ) placed in a graphite crucible. 

Its Uses. — As calcium (Ca) is light, strong and a 
good conductor of electricity it could be used to 
form valuable alloys with other metals if it was not 
so costly. Compounds of calcium (Ca) are numer- 
ous and useful; thus calcium oxide (CaO), which is 
quicklime, is used for making mortar ; calcium chlor- 
ide (CaCl 2 ) is used for drying; calcium sulphate 
(CaS0 4 ), that is gypsum, when heated makes plaster 
of Paris; calcium phosphate (Ca 3 (P0 4 ) 2 ) is a good 
fertilizer; calcium carbonate (CaC0 3 ) when melted 
with sodium carbonate (NaC0 3 ) makes glass; cal- 
cium hypochlorite (Ca(OCl) 2 ) plus calcium chlor- 
ide (CaCl 2 ), that is chloride of lime, makes bleach- 
ing powder, etc. 

Magnesium (Mg). — Its Characteristics.— So 
89 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

called from Magnesia, a district in Thessaly. It 
also has a silver-white color, has a specific gravity of 
1.75 and melts at 806 degrees Fahrenheit. It burns 




Fig. 33. Magnesium Wire Burning in Air 

with a flame like unto that of an electric arc. See 
Fig. 33. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It is found in dolo- 
mite, a kind of common rock, and in magnesite, a 
mineral. It is obtained by passing an electric cur- 

90 



AEOUT METALS ATO THEIE USES 



rent through melted magnesium, potassium and 
sodium chloride. 

Its Uses. — The chief use of the pure metal is to 
make an actinic light for taking photographs, in mak- 
ing fireworks and for signal lights. In combination 
with other elements it forms magnesia alba, which is 
used for polishing silver, and in making tooth 

(+) 
positive: electrode 

COKE5T/7R 



,TO DYA/J7MO 




NEGATIVE 
ELECTRODE 

0LUMJNUMQ 
WPPED OFF HERE 



IRQNBOX 



Fig. 34. Hall's Process for Extracting Aluminum 



powders, and magnesium sulphate (MgS0 4 ) which 
is used to make Epsom salts. 

Aluminum (Al).— Its Characteristics. — It is a 
white metal about the color of tin, is strong and 
tough, is lighter than any of the common metals/ 
having a specific gravity of 2.7, does not rust and 
next to copper is the best conductor of electricity. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It is never found 
free but it occurs abundantly in clay and rocks. It 
is obtained by the electrolytic process from a solu- 

91 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

tion of aluminum oxide (A1 2 3 ) in melted cryolite 
(]STaAlF 6 ). Fig. 34 shows the apparatus. 

Its Uses. — It is used for electric transmission 
lines, in paint, for foil, cooking utensils, to remove 
oxygen from melted iron, for making high tempera- 
ture compounds, called thermit, 2 and for forming 
alloys with other metals. 

Aluminum oxide (A1 2 3 ) is, next to the diamond, 
the hardest substance known and when crystallized 
it is used instead of emery as an abrasive ; it is also 
used for making synthetic gems such as rubies, sap- 
phires, etc. Aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH) 3 ) is 
used for purifying water and making mordants and 
lakes for dyeing. 

Manganese (Mn).-Ifs Characteristics.— -It gets 
its name from the Latin word magnes which means 
magnet, because it looked like loadstone, that is, a 
natural magnet. It is hard, brittle, and of a grayish 
color, has a specific gravity of 7.2 and melts at about 
3500 degrees Fahrenheit, or a little above that of 
iron. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It does not occur 
free but is extracted in large quantities from a 
mineral, or ore, called pyrolusite which is crude 
manganese dioxide (Mn0 2 ). It is obtained by the 
thermit process, that is, manganese dioxide and 
aluminum (Al) filings are mixed in a crucible and 
fired by a piece of magnesium (Mg) wire. The 

'Full information about this process can be had by writing 
to the Thermit Company of America, New York City. 

92 



ABOUT METALS ANJ) THEIE USES 

great heat evolved melts the manganese (Mn) and 
the aluminum (Al) combines with the oxide and 
forms aluminum oxide (A1 2 3 ). 

Its Uses. — It is used extensively in making ferro- 
manganese, manganese-steel and manganese-bronze 
alloys. These alloys are very hard and tough and 
manganese steel is used for safes, railway frogs, 
switches, etc. 

Zinc (Zn). — Its Characteristics. — It is a bluish 
white metal, has a specific gravity of about 7 and 
melts at 811.5 degrees Fahrenheit. It behaves vari- 
ously at different temperatures; thus at ordinary 
temperatures it is brittle but when heated to 100 or 
150 degrees it can easily be rolled into sheets but at 
300 degrees it becomes brittle again. It does not rust 
in air. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It is never found 
free but in such ores as smithsonite (ZnC0 3 ) and 
zinc blend (ZnS). To separate it from the first it 
is pulverized, mixed with coal and then heated, while 
from the second it is powdered and roasted to get 
rid of the sulphur (S). 

Its Uses. — Since it does not rust it is used for 
exposed metal work of all kinds. Sheet iron and 
wire are electroplated with it, or galvanized as it is 
called, to make them rust proof. It finds a wide use 
in making brass and other alloys. 

Chromium (Cr). — Its Characteristics. — This 
metal is named from chroma, the Greek word for 

93 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

color. It has a specific gravity of 7.3 and has a 
higher melting point than platinum (Pt.) 

Its Source and Preparation. — The ore from which 
chromium (Cr) is extracted is cliromite 
(Ee(Cr0 2 ) 2 ) and it is ohtained by heating chromic 
oxide (Cr 2 3 ) with aluminum (Al), by the thermit 
process. 

Its Uses. — The addition of 1 per cent of chromium 
(Cr) to steel greatly increases the strength, hardness 
and~elasticity of the latter which is called chrome- 
steel and is used for armor-plate. Other alloys are 
formed by it which are not attacked even by boiling 
acids. Compounds of the metal are used in pho- 
tography, calico printing, dyeing and in making 
leather. 

Iron (Fe). — Its Characteristics. — The Anglo- 
Saxons called it iron and they got it from the Latin 
ferrum which means iron. It has a specific gravity 
of 8 and melts at 2,912 degrees Fahrenheit Pure 
iron is white and it is very rare. 

There are three kinds of iron and these are (1) 
cast iron; (2) wrought iron and (3) steel. Cast 
iron contains carbon (C), silicon (Si), sulphur (S) 
and phosphorus (P) and it is very brittle. Wrought 
iron has most of these elements removed from it and 
it is then malleable. Steel contains less carbon (C) 
than cast and more than wrought iron; when it is 
heated and cooled slowly, that is tempered, it be- 
comes hard and elastic. 

Its Source and Preparation. — This most useful 
94 



ABOUT METALS AND THEIK USES 



metal is seldom found free but it forms a large part 
of the earth's crust. There are a number of ores, see 
A in Eig. 35, which yield iron (Ee) and these are put 
into a blast furnace with coke and burned in a blast 
of air, when the iron melts and flows to the bottom 
as shown at B. 

Its Uses. — Wherever a cheap and strong metal is 



FIREBRICK 




Fig. 35. 



AIRNOZZLE 
OR TUYERES 



BLAST FURNACE FOR 
MAK/NG CAST J ROM 

The Source and Production of Iron (Fe) 



needed, especially if it is to be heated, iron is used. 
Where an especially hard, strong and elastic metal 
is needed, as for instance tools, working parts of 
machinery, rails, etc., steel is used. 

When other metals are mixed with iron a won- 
derful series of alloys are produced and when iron 
is combined with other elements a large number of 
compounds used in the arts are formed. 

Nickel (Ni). — Its Characteristics. — The word 
95 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

nickel is pruned down from Jcuppamickel as it is 
called in Swedish. It is silver in color, is very 
hard and takes a high polish. It has a specific 
gravity of 8.9 and melts at 2,462 degrees Fahrenheit. 

lcs Source and Preparation. — It is never found 
free but is obtained from many ores, especially iron 
sulphide (EaCuFe)S). The ore is roasted to get 
the sulphur (S) out, then smelted and the iron 
extracted by the Bessemer process. The pure nickel 
is separated from the copper by electrolysis. 

Its Uses. — As nickel does not tarnish in air and 
takes a high polish it is widely used for plating iron. 
It is also used for the coinage of money and making 
a hard and tough alloy called nickel-steel. 

Tin.(Sn). — Its Characteristics. — Tin is a good 
old Anglo-Saxon word but its Latin name is stan- 
num, hence its symbol Sn. It is a white, soft and 
malleable metal; has a specific gravity of 7.25 and 
melts at 551 degrees Fahrenheit. At ordinary tem- 
peratures air has no effect on it. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It is found 
mainly in cassiterite (Sn0 2 ), or tinstone as it is 
called, and this is powdered, mixed with charcoal and 
heated in a furnace when the tin melts and runs to- 
gether. 

Its Uses. — The fact that tin does not change in air 
makes it valuable for covering sheet iron which is 
used for tinware. It forms the basis for several 
alloys, the chief ones being solder and Babbitt metal. 
Its compounds are also largely used in the arts. 

96 



ABOUT METALS AND THEIE USES 

Lead (Pb). — Its Characteristics. — Its Latin 
name is plumbum but the Anglo-Saxons called it 
lead. It is a bluish gray metal, is very soft, has 
a specific gravity of 11.36 and melts at 850 degrees 
Fahrenheit. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It is sometimes 
found free but its chief source is galena (PbS). 
This mineral is roasted when the sulphur (S) evap- 
orates and the lead (Pb) is then run off into pigs. 
There is quite an amount of precious metal in lead 
called base bullion. 

Its Uses. — It is used for water pipes, sheathing 
for cables and for making shot and bullets. When 
alloyed with other metals it makes type-metal, solder, 
and fusible alloys for water sprinklers and electric 
fuse wire. In combination with other elements it 
forms red-lead (Pb 3 4 ) for painting iron work, and 
white-lead (PbC0 3 ) for painting houses. 

Copper (Cu.).— Its Characteristics.— The Ko- 
mans called this metal Cyprium aes, that is, Cyprium 
brass, because they got it from the island of Cyprus 
in the Mediterranean; later the name was changed 
to cuprium, then to cuper and finally to copper. It 
is a hard, tough, reddish metal, has a specific gravity 
of 8.9 and melts at 1,057 degrees Fahrenheit. It 
does not change in dry air but becomes covered with 
a green layer of carbonate of copper (CuC0 3 ). 

Its Source and Preparation. — Free copper is very 
often found in large quantities and many ores con- 
tain it; there are live different ways by which it is 

97 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

obtained from them but the chief ones are (1) by 
roasting, and (2) by electrolysis. 

Its Uses. — The ancients made tools of it, see Eig. 
36, and as it stands next to silver as a conductor of 
electricity we moderns largely use it for all kinds of 
electrical purposes. It is also used for making stills 
and cooking utensils, and large amounts of it are 
employed in making alloys. Compounds made with 
it and other elements are used for copper plating, 
dyeing, etc. 




Fig. 36. Some Ancient Coppeb Tools 



Bismuth (Bi). — Its Characteristics. — The origin 
of this word is not known. The metal is pink, is 
brittle, has a specific gravity of 9.8 and melts. at 517 
degrees Fahrenheit. It expands on cooling. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It is found free and 
also in several ores from which it can be obtained 
by roasting and smelting. 

Its Uses. — Its chief use is in making alloys hav- 
ing a low melting point. An electric fuse link made 
of a bismuth alloy is shown in Eig. 37. 

Mercury (Hg). — Its Characteristics. — The sym- 
98 



ABOUT METALS &KD THEIK USES 

bol for this strange metal comes from hydrargyrum 
which is its Latin name. It is bright, silvery white 
and different from all other metals as it is a liquid 
at ordinary temperatures. It has a specific gravity 
of 13.5 so that iron will float on it, and it becomes 
a solid at — 38 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It occurs free and 
also in cinnabar (HgS). It is obtained by roasting 

COPPER 
TERM/N/JLS 




Fig. 37. A Standakd Fuse Link 

the latter when the mercury is vaporized and then 
condensed. 

Its Uses. — It is used in scientific instruments, for 
making amalgams by dissolving other metals in it, 
and for various mercurial compounds. 

Silver (Ag). — Its Characteristics. — It gets its 
symbol from ar gentium which is Latin for silver. 
It is the most common of the precious metals, is a 
beautiful white and does not tarnish in air but 
blackens when sulphur (S) acts on it. It is the 

99 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

best conductor of electricity, has a specific gravity 
of 10.5 and melts at 1,750 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Its Source and Preparation. — It often occurs free 
in rocks and is largely found in lead ores. It is 
separated by the Parkes' process? 

Its Uses, — It is largely used for forming alloys 
from which coins, silver-ware and jewelry are made. 
It is also used for silvering mirrors, silver-plating 




Fig. 38. Platinum Combustion Crucible 
(For the determination of carbon in iron^and steel) 

and making compounds for photography and other 

purposes. 

Platinum (Pt). — Its Characteristics. — Its name 

is derived from the Spanish platina which means 

silver. It is grayish-white, is not attacked by air, 

water or acids except aqua regia. It has a specific 

gravity of 21.5 and is one of the heaviest metals 

9 A description of this process will be found in Smith's 
Inorganic Chemistry, published by The Century Co., New 
York. 

100 



ABOUT METALS AND THEIK USES 

known. It melts at 3,225 degrees Fahrenheit, and 
hence the Bunsen flame has no effect upon it. 

Its Source. — It is chiefly found as free platinum 
(Pt) in river gravels. 

Its Uses. — Since it will not melt in a Bunsen flame 
it is very useful to the chemist. In Russia it is 
used for coinage, it is in vogue for jewelry and is 
used by dentists and photographers. See Fig. 38. 
It has the same expansion as glass and when alloyed 
with iridium is used for international standards of 
length and weight. It is worth twice as much as 
gold (Au). 

Gold (Au). — Its Characteristics. — From the 
Latin aurum. It is a yellow metal, is quite soft and 
very malleable. It can be beaten into leaves 
250,000ths of an inch thick. Air has no effect on 
it, it has a specific gravity of 19.3, melts at 1,918 
degrees Fahrenheit, and is only dissolved by aqua 
regia. 

Its Source. — It is generally found free, usually 
in quartz but more frequently in quartz sand, or 
pay-dirt as it is called. 

Its Uses. — As air does not affect it, it is alloyed 
with copper for coinage, gold-ware and jewelry; it 
is also employed for making gold-leaf, gold plating 
and in photography. 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 



Some Useful Alloys 



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ABOUT METALS AND THEIE USES 
Some Useful Amalgams 



Name of 
Amalgam 


Use 


Mercury 


Other Metal 


Sodium 

Tin Common. 
Tin Good.... 

Zinc 


Making mirrors 
Making mirrors 

Filling for teeth 


98 
3 
4 

2 


Sodium 2 

Tin 1 

Tin 1, Lead 1, 

Bismuth 2 
Pulverized Zinc 1 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE VALUE OF FERTILIZERS 

In the beginning of mundane things the crust of 
the^ earth was a solid layer of rock, but as the air 
and water, and heat and cold, waged war through the 
countless ages upon it much of it was broken up into 
bits, and thus the land was formed. 

What the Soil Is Made of. — There are four chief 
kinds of land and these are formed of (1) 
rock, (2) sand, (3) clay and (4) loam. The 
first three kinds are not suitable for the growth of 
plants but the fourth one, loam, is extremely so. 

If you will turn over a spadeful of loam you will 
see that it looks dark and rich and it is, for it is 
formed of partly decayed plant and animal matter* 
Dig down a little and you will come to a brown 
mold and this is completely decayed plants, or 
humus as it is called. Dig still deeper and you will 
find a layer of crumbled rock, and as you go farther 
down you will note that the soil gets harder and 
finally you will strike solid rock. A diagram of a 
section of soil is shown in Fig. 39. 

What the Soil Contains. — The soil is formed of 
and contains many elements and their compounds, 
especially those of the metals. 

104 



THE VALUE OF FEKTILIZEKS 

Thus all fertile soils have in them nitrogen (N), 
phosphorus (P), sulphur (S), chlorine (CI), alumi- 
num (Al), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron 
(Ee), manganese (Mn), silicon (Si), sodium (Na), 
potassium (K), etc., and when a plant grows it 
must have these elements to feed on just as you and 
I must have the proteins, carbohydrates and fats to 
live on. 




OPEN SOIL 

CPOWDEREDkoC/t):': • • ';} \ ■''■ ; V ' 

Fig. 39. Diagram of Soil Section and Root Gbowth 

Virgin soil, that is soil which has yet to be turned 
for the first time by a plow, is always fertile and 
will yield a large crop because the elements in it 
have not been used up by the plants for food. But 
when crop after crop, especially of the same kind, 
has been raised on the same soil the plants keep on 
taking the same elements out of it with the result 
that the soil is impoverished and, hence, must of 
necessity be unproductive. 

105 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

What Water Does to the Soil. — Not only are 
the elements of and in the soil needed to make plants 
grow but water also and plenty of it, for since 
these elements are always combined with others the 
compounds so formed must be dissolved before the 
plants can use them for foods. 

You can get a pretty good idea of the large amount 





Fig. 40. It Takes a Drop op Water 2 Feet in Diameter 
to Make 1 Pound of Dried Plant Matter 



of water (H 2 0) growing plants require by looking 
at Fig. 40 for it shows that it takes 250 to 500 
pounds of water in the soil to make a single pound 
of dry plant matter. Of this great quantity of 
water absorbed by the plant nearly all of it passes 
up through the stem or stock and out of the leaves. 

How to Make the Soil Productive. — There is 
only one fundamental way to make an impov- 
erished soil productive and that is to put back into 
it those elements which the plants grown in it have 

106 



THE VALUE OF FERTILIZEKS 

used up, or to fertilize it as it is called. This done 
the next thing is to give it the water the plants need. 

"Now there are several ways by which the soil 
can he fertilized and the chief ones are by (1) ani- 
mal manures; (2) plant manures, and (3) commer- 
cial fertilizers. Before going into the matter of 
fertilizers let's find out how these various compounds 
act upon the soil and furnish the plants with foods. 

What Fertilizers Do. — As you have seen plants 
are formed mostly of carbon (C), oxygen (0), 
hydrogen (H), nitrogen (1ST), potassium (K), 
sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), calcium 
(Ca) and phosphorus (P). 

The carbon (C) and oxygen (0) are supplied to 
the plants by the air, the hydrogen (H) by the 
water (H 2 0), the nitrogen (N) and the other ele- 
ments by the soil, but it is the nitrogen (N), potas- 
sium (K) and phosphorus (P) which they use up 
the fastest and, it follows, these elements are most 
needed and must be replaced if you are to continue 
to have fair crops. 

Although -f of the air in which both the animal 
and plant kingdoms live is formed of nitrogen (N), 
still the plants cannot get or use much of the nitrogen 
until it has been combined with other substances, 
such as sodium nitrate (NsiN0 3 ), or Chili saltpeter 
as it is called. 

Then when this and other compounds are broken 
up in the soil either by the action of the air, or 
water, or bacteria, or all of these acting upon them, 

107 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

they are dissolved, when they can be and are assimir 
lated by the plants and used as foods by them. See 
Fig. 41. 

Kinds of Fertilizers. — There are two general 
kinds of fertilizers and these are (1) indirect 
fertilizers and (2) direct fertilizers. These kinds 




Fig. 41. Fertilized and Not Fertilized 



can be further subdivided into (a) incomplete fer- 
tilizers and (b) complete fertilizers. 

Indirect fertilizers contain other matter than those 
that are of value to growing plants. Direct fer- 
tilizers are those that contain the nutritive elements 
in the form of mineral salts. Incomplete fertil- 
izers are those that have only one or two of the 
three needed elements in them, while complete fer- 
tilizers contain nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and 
potassium (K), or potash as it is called. 

108 



THE VALUE OF FEKTILIZEES 

Indirect Fertilizers. — About the time that our 
savage ancestors began to draw history on a slab 
of bark they had found that planting a fish in 
each hill of corn would make it grow better but it 
is only within recent times that civilized man has 
learned why manures are beneficial to plant growth. 

Barnyard manures are rich in nitrogen (1ST) and 
the vegetable parts of it when plowed into the soil 
help to keep the particles of the latter separated so 
that the air can circulate through it freely. 

Guano is the excrement of sea-birds that live on 
the western coast of South America. It is rich in 
nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potash (KOH), 
— the three foods most needed by plants — and it is, 
therefore, a complete fertilizer. 

Green manures are plants from which the crops 
have been harvested and which are then plowed 
under to enrich the soil. 

Now there is a class of plants called the legumes, 
that is, plants belonging to the bean family and 
which include also lentils, peas and clover, that get 
free nitrogen (N) from the air by means of bac- 
teria on their roots and when plowed under they 
give this needed element to the soil; hence they 
make good fertilizers. 

The Rotation of Crops.— It must be clear, now, 
that since all plants do not use the same elements 
from the soil that by raising first a crop of wheat, 
or corn, which requires a lot of nitrogen (N), and 
then by planting clover, or some other legume which 

109 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

gives nitrogen back to the soil, large crops of both 
will result and this scheme is called the rotation of 
crops. 

About Direct Fertilizers. — The Soluble Ni- 
trates. — Mtrogen (N) is chiefly absorbed by 
plants in the form of a soluble salt. 

Sodium nitrate (NslNO s ), which is Chili salt- 
peter, contains from 2 to 5 per cent of nitrogen (N) 
and as the saltpeter is very soluble in water it 
makes an excellent fertilizer. 

Ammonium sulphate (E"H 4 ) 2 S0 4 ) is prepared 
from ammoniacal liquor which is the water through 
which illuminating gas is passed to get rid of the 
ammonia (NH 3 ) in it. The sulphate in its com- 
mercial form contains about 20 per cent of nitrogen. 
Nitrogen in this form is the most concentrated that 
you can buy for fertilizing purposes. 

Other Nitrogen Fertilizers. — There are many 



Plant Matter 



Per Cent of 
Nitrogen 



Cottonseed meal when from hulls 

Linseed meal 

Castor pumace 



Animal Matter 

Red dried blood from slaughter houses . 

Black dried blood 

Hoof meal 

Ground fish 

Tankage 1 



7 

5.5 

6 



13 

10 
12 

8 
5 to 9 



1 Tankage is a meal made from scrap meat, entrails and 
slaughter-house offal in general. 

110 



THE VALUE OF FEETILIZEKS 

other compounds containing nitrogen (18) which can 
he used for fertilizers hut the chief ones are given in 
the table on page 110. 

The Phosphate Fertilizers. — Fertilizers that 
contain large amounts of phosphorus are called 
phosphate fertilizers and these are of two kinds, 
namely (1) animal phosphates and (2) mineral 
phosphates. 

Animal Phosphates. — As tankage contains from 6 
to 16 per cent of phosphoric acid (H 3 P0 4 ) as well 
as considerable nitrogen (N) it makes a very good 
fertilizer. Bone phosphates are prepared from 
either raw or steamed bones and these are ground or 
dissolved in sulphuric acid. These hone fertilizers 
contain from 20 to 30 per cent of phosphoric acid 
(H 3 P0 4 ). 

While tankage and other animal matter, except 
hones, decompose quickly in the soil and furnish the 
plants with foods direct, bone phosphates must he 
ground very fine and even then they dissolve slowly 
and improve the soil for the future rather than serve 
to feed the plants immediately. 

Mineral Phosphates. — The chief supply of phos- 
phates is found in mineral deposits in various parts 
of the world. The phosphorus (P) in these minerals 
is in the form of calcium phosphate (Ca 3 (P0 4 ) 2 ) 
hut as this salt is insoluble it is not a good fertilizer 
until it is treated with sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) 
which will be described presently. These mineral 
phosphates are very rich, containing as they do from 

111 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

20 to 40 per cent of phosphoric acid (H 3 P0 4 ). 

Thomas slag, or phosphate slag, is obtained as a 
by-product when steel is made by the Bessemer 
process. The phosphorus (P) in the slag is more 
easily dissolved than that which is in mineral phos- 
phates and hence the powdered slag does not need 
to be treated with acid before it is used on the soil. 

Superphosphate Fertilizers. — To make bone and 
mineral phosphates give up their phosphoric acid 
(H 3 P0 4 ) more easily and so that they can be used 
at once by the plants, they are ground and mixed in 
a vat with warm sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) when 
phosphoric acid is formed and separated from the in- 
soluble calcium sulphate (CaS0 4 H 2 0) though both 
substances still remain in the raw materials which 
are then called a superphosphate fertilizer. 

Double Superphosphate Fertilizers. — These fer- 
tilizers are formed by making phosphoric acid 
(H 3 P0 4 ) from a poor grade of raw materials and 
then treating a good grade with it. In this way 
a fertilizer is produced that has twice the amount 
of phosphoric acid in it as is contained in crude 
materials, hence the name double phosphate. 

Crude phosphate fertilizers must be applied to 
the soil before the crop is planted but the super and 
double superphosphates can be used before or when 
the crop is planted or when it is growing. 

The Potash Fertilizers. — Wood Ashes. — Before 
commercial fertilizers were put on the market about 
the only source of potash (KOH) was wood ashes. 

112 



THE VALUE OF FEKTILIZEKS 

Wood ashes contain 5 or 6 per cent of potash 
(KOH), 2 per cent of phosphoric acid (H 3 P0 4 ) and 
30 per cent of calcium oxide (CaO), that is lime. 
When wood ashes are leached, that is, when water 
is poured on them, the potassium carbonate (K 2 C0 3 ) 
is dissolved and when the solution is evaporated the 
substance which remains is called potash. In 
leached wood ashes there is about 1 per cent of 
potash, 1.5 per cent of phosphoric acid and 28 to 29 
per cent of lime. 

Commercial Potash Fertilizers. — These have hith- 
erto been obtained almost wholly from Germany 
where there are great deposits of potash salts. 

There are two kinds of potash salts and these are 
(1) potassium chloride (KC1) and (2) potassium 
sulphate (K 2 S0 4 ). You must be careful which one 
you use for while potassium chloride dissolves easily 
in the soil it is harmful to potatoes, sugar beets, 
tobacco and some other crops. Potassium sulphate 
on the other hand costs more than the chloride but it 
will not injure the crops. 

Mixing Fertilizers Yourself. — You can buy 
complete fertilizers ready mixed or you can 
mix them yourself. By mixing incomplete fer- 
tilizers you can get any proportion of the needed 
elements you want and a complete fertilizer made in 
this way is cheaper too. On the other hand it is 
hard to get incomplete fertilizers ground as fine as 
the complete fertilizers that are sold and conse- 

113 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

quently those you mix will not be quite as soluble as 
those you buy. 

Using Farm Waste for Fertilizing. — The great- 
est waste on a farm to-day is the cesspool mat- 
ter, dishwater, soapsuds, etc., all of which are valu- 
able for fertilizing. As an example of the value of 
this kind of refuse the city of Antwerp once paid 
$5,000 a year to get rid of it. Later on scientific 
men found ways to use it and the city then sold it 
for $200,000 a year. 



CHAPTEE IX 
CLEANING, BLEACHING AND DISINFECTING 

The word cleaning means, as you may perchance 
know, the removal of dirt, grease or other matter 
which soils anything, bleaching is the extraction 
of coloring matter of any kind in anything, and 
disinfecting is the destruction of disease germs that 
threaten your good health anywhere, anyplace, any- 
time. 

Kinds of Cleaning Processes. — There are sev- 
eral ways to clean goods but the four chief ones 
are (1) by brushing; (2) with a vacuum cleaner; 
(3) by washing, and (4) by dry cleaning. As the 
first two operations are purely mechanical they need 
not be gone into here. 

How Washing Is Done. — There are two princi- 
pal compounds used for washing things and these 
are (a) water (H 2 0) and (b) soap. The former 
can be used alone but it only becomes effective when 
the latter is employed with it and the third great 
factor is rubbing, or some equivalent process, but this 
is likewise mechanical — and usually hard work, 
though an easy way to do it is illustrated in Fig. 42. 

Water (H 2 0) you will remember is a great sol- 
115 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

vent and when goods are washed in it a good deal 
of dirt is dissolved ont. If the goods are boiled in 




Fig. 42. The Easy and Eight Way to Wash Clothes 



it much more dirt will come out because water is a 
better solvent when hot than when it is cold. Fur- 
ther, in either case, the water should be soft for the 

116 



CLEANING, BLEACHING, DISINFECTING 

insoluble mineral salts in hard water prevent it from 
dissolving the dirt easily. 

What Soap Is. — When the acids in fats unite 
with a hose the compound which is formed is called 
soap and the process is called saponification. 

Or a little clearer, fats are compounds of glycerine 
(C 2 H 8 3 ) and oleic acid (C 18 H 34 2 ), palmitic acid 
(C 16 H 32 2 ) or stearic acid (C 18 H 36 7 ) and hence 
these are called fatty acids. Now when fats are 
boiled with a base such as sodium hydroxide 
(NaOH), that is, caustic soda, or potassium hydrox- 
ide (KOH), that is, caustic potash, the salts of the 
respective acids are formed and these are oleate, palr- 
mitate or stearate of potassium and sodium and this, 
makes soap. 

How to Make a Little Soap. — Put % a pint of 
water (H 2 0), 1^ ounces of caustic soda (NaOH) 
and 1 pound of lard in an iron kettle and boil it for 
a couple of hours. Let it stand until it gets cold and 
then pour into it a solution made of a couple of 
ounces of common salt (NaCl) dissolved in a cup 
of water (H 2 0). This will make the soap separate 
and rise to the top and after a while it will get solid. 

Kinds of Soap. — Ordinary hard laundry soap is 
made of fats and caustic soda and true soft soap is 
made of fats and caustic potash. Hard soaps are 
usually mixed with fillers such as borax, sodium car- 
bonate, etc. 

Floating soaps are made so by blowing a blast of 
air through them just before they get hard. The 

117 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

best grades of toilet soaps are made of olive and 
sweet almond oil and to which coloring matter and 
perfumes have been added. Transparent soaps are 
made bj dissolving a good quality of soap in alcohol, 
and glycerine soaps have sugar and glycerine in 
them. Washing powders are usually made of sodium 
carbonate and pulverized soap. Hand sapolio has 
about 70 per cent of sand in it. These various kinds 
of soap are represented in Eig. 43. 

Why Soft Water Must be Used.— Soft water 
should be used for washing, or hard water must be 




FOR WASH/ NG FOR THE FOR THE FOR SCOURING 

' CLOTHES 3/fTH TO/LET 

Fig. 43. Kinds of Soap 



softened before it is used for washing, or you will 
waste the soap and make yourself a lot of hard, 
useless work. 

This is because the calcium and magnesium salts 
of the water combine with the acids of the soaps and 
form other lime salts which will not dissolve. When 
you try to wash with soap in hard water the goods 
get a thin film of these insoluble salts on them 
which keeps the soap from acting on the grease and 
dirt. 

The way to make hard water soft is to use sodium 
carbonate (Na 2 C0 3 ), or washing soda as it is called, 

118 



CLEANING, BLEACHING, DISINFECTING 

as explained in Chapter II under the heading of 
Soft and Hard Water. 

How Soap and Water Cleans.— When soap is 
mixed with soft water it forms a soap solution and 
this cleans grease and dirt from fabrics and other 
materials (1) by taking ont the oil and grease in 
them, and (2) by removing the dust and dirt. 

What Soap Does to Grease. — Oils and grease are 
viscous compounds that will not dissolve in water 
but when soap is rubbed on the goods containing them 
it breaks them up into a lot of little drops and covers 
each one with a film of soap like the cover on a 
baseball. This process separates them from the 
goods and when this is done the soap with the oils 
and grease in it can be easily washed off. In this 
way soap will remove vegetable and animal oils but 
not mineral oils. 

How Soap Removes Dirt. — What we call dirt is 
largely soot, that is, particles of solid carbon (C). 
When goods containing them are rubbed in a soap 
solution the dirt is absorbed by the latter, and then 
it can easily be rinsed off. 

How Soda, Borax and Ammonia Act. — These 
compounds do not have the power to take out oils, 
grease and dirt. It is the soap that does this part 
of it, but what these compounds do, with the aid of 
rubbing, is to help the soap break up the fatty mat- 
ter, or emulsify it, as it is called. 

What Bluing Does. — When cotton and linen 
clothes are boiled, especially if there are unbleached 

119 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

cottons among them, they take on a slightly yellow 
tint. To make the washing white bluing is used and 
if this is of a slightly reddish shade the fabrics will 
look the whiter. 

Bluing was formerly made of indigo (C^H^l^C^) 
which came from the indigo plant in India, hut 
since 1907 it has been made synthetically, that is, 
built up chemically, the start being made with naph- 
thalene (C 10 H 8 ) which is a coal-tar product. 

How Dry 'Cleaning Is Done. — Dry cleaning 
means the process of cleaning fabrics of any kind 
with any solvent other than water. 

Benzine and gasoline are products of petroleum 
and these dissolve fats, tars and other organic sub- 
stances and, hence, are largely used for dry cleaning. 
To clean your hands after fixing your motor car 
rub them well with herosene and then wash them in 
hot soapy water. 

Eats dissolve easily in ether (C 4 H 10 O), in chlo- 
roform (CHCI3), in carbon disulphide (CS 2 ), and in 
carbon tetrachloride (CC1 4 ), and, hence, these com- 
pounds are largely used for cleaning off grease spots 
from clothing. Carbon disulphide is not at all a 
safe cleanser to use but carbon tetrachloride which 
is formed of chlorine (CI) and carbon disulphide 
(CS 2 ) is just as good and perfectly safe; it is bet- 
ter than benzine and gasoline in that it won't catch 
fire. 

Carbona is the trade name of a compound that has 
a wide sale as a cleaning agent. It is a mixture of 

120 



CLEANING, BLEACHING, DISINFECTING 

benzine to which enough carbon tetrachloride has 
been added to prevent it from burning. 

How Bleaching Is Done. — There are two ways to 
bleach fabrics and these are (1) by exposing them 
to the sun and weather and (2) by treating them 
with chemicals. The first method consists of simply 
laying the fabrics on clean grass and letting the sun 
shine on them. The second which is the quicker and 
easier way, is the one most generally used. 

What Bleaching Compounds Are. — The three 
great bleaching compounds are (1) ozone (0 3 ), (2) 
hypochlorous acid (HCIO) and (3) hydrogen 'perox- 
ide (H 2 2 ). 

Bleaching with Ozone. — Oxygen (0) is an ele- 
ment and ozone (0 3 ) is a condensed form of it hav- 
ing 3 atoms of oxygen to a molecule instead of 1. 
But ozone behaves very differently from oxygen and 
one of its characteristics is bleaching. It is the 
ozone in the air and in the dew on the grass which 
is produced by the sun that bleaches cotton and linen 
fabrics. To make ozone for bleaching on a large 
scale requires electrical apparatus and it is not, there- 
fore, adapted to household use. 

Bleaching with Hypochlorous Acid.— Chlorine 
(CI) is a gas that is formed in combination with 
other elements such as sodium (Na), potassium (K), 
magnesium (Mg), etc. 

Sodium chloride (NaCl), that is, common salt, 
is where we get most of our chlorine (CI) from. But 
chlorine cannot be gotten easily from this salt though 

121 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

it can be had when combined with "hydrogen (H) in 
the form of hydrochloric acid (HC1 2 ) by treating 
common salt with sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ). 

~Now chlorine in itself has no bleaching power but 
when it is dissolved in water (H 2 0) hypochlorous 
acid (HCIO) is formed and this is a very active 
bleaching compound. 

An Old-Fashioned Bleaching Scheme. — A sim- 
ple bleaching compound can be quickly made by mix- 
ing up a paste of salt (jSTaCl) and vinegar which is 
dilute acetic acid (HC0 2 CH 3 ). 

The stain to be removed is moistened with water 
and then the salt and vinegar is rubbed into it. The 
acetic acid combines with the salt and liberates chlor- 
ine (CI) ; this in turn combines with the water 
(H 2 0) in the fabric and forms hypochlorous acid 
(HCIO) which does the bleaching. 

Bleaching Powder for Cotton and Linen. — 
Bleaching powder is made by passing chlorine (CI) 
into calcium hydroxide (CaC0 2 H 2 ), that is, slacked 
lime, when a compound is formed that contains cal- 
cium hydrochlorite (Ca(OCl) 2 ) and calcium chlor- 
ide (CaCl 2 ) and this is called chloride of lime 
(CaCl(OCl)). The hypochlorous acid (HCIO) is 
freed by the action of the carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) that 
is in the air. 

Sulphurous Acid for Wool, Silk and Straw. — 
Since wool and silk contain proteins, that is, organic 
nitrogen compounds, hypochlorous acid (HCIO) de- 
stroys these fabrics almost as fast as it bleaches them, 

122 



CLEANING, BLEACHING, DISINFECTING 

But sulphurous acid (H 2 S0 3 ), this is not sulphuric 
acid (H 2 S0 4 ), does not injure them and this is used 
instead. 

When sulphur dioxide (S0 2 ), which is a gas, is 
passed through water (H 2 0) a part of it combines 
with some of the water and forms sulphurous acid 
(H 2 SO s ). This acid bleaches in virtue of the fact 
that it combines with many coloring substances and 
forms compounds with them which are colorless. 

Hydrogen Peroxide for Hair and Wool. — Hy- 
drogen peroxide (H 2 2 ) is a clear, syrup-like liquid 
that is heavier than water. It is made by treating 
barium dioxide (Ba0 2 ) with sulphuric acid 
(H 2 S0 4 ). 

It is a great destroyer of coloring matter in hair 
and hence it is used by otherwise perfectly good bru- 
nette beauties to convert themselves into bad imita- 
tion per-ox-eyed blondes. So don't use it. 

The Use of Disinfectants. — These are com- 
pounds used to destroy disease germs in fabrics, 
rooms, sinks, drains and toilets. 

Chlorine (CI) is a very good disinfectant and all 
you have to do in order to use it is to dissolve some 
calcium hypochlorite (Ca(OCl) 2 ), that is, chloride 
of lime, in water (H 2 0). 

Sulphur (S) when ignited burns in air and com- 
bines with the oxygen of it forming sulphur dioxide 
(S0 2 ). This is a powerful disinfectant and is used 
to disinfect rooms where there are germs of infec- 
tious diseases. 

123 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 2 ) is useful for washing 
out sores and wounds for while it burns up the dead 
and decaying flesh it does not act on the living tis- 
sues. When hydrogen peroxide decomposes only 
water is left and consequently it does not irritate or 
poison the living matter as many other disinfectants 
do. Get a solution that contains 3 per cent of the 
dioxide. 

Formaldehyde (CH 2 0+H 2 0) as you will remem- 
ber is not to be recommended as a preservative for 
milk or meat but it is a mighty good disinfectant to 
use around the house. It is made by dissolving about 
40 per cent of formaldehyde, which is a gas, in 60 
per cent of water. You can buy the solution ready 
made. 

Phenol (C 6 H 5 OH), that is, carbolic acid, is ex- 
tracted from coal tar by treating it with sodium diox- 
ide (JSTaOH), that is, caustic soda, when the carbolic 
acid in the former is dissolved. A solution of 5 per 
cent of carbolic acid in 95 per cent of water makes 
a good disinfectant. 



CHAPTER X 
THE ART OF DYEING NICELY 

Dyeing is a chemical process of coloring goods, 
such as cotton, linen, wool and silk, so that it will 
not wash out or fade out. 

Kinds of Goods. — Goods are made of two kinds 
of fibers and these are (1) plant fibers and (2) ani- 
mal fibers. Cotton, see Fig. 44, and linen, which 
are of the first class, are nearly pure cellulose 
(C 6 H 10 O 5 ) and both have smooth, hollow fibers. 

Wool, which is shown in Fig. 45, and silk, in Fig. 
46, belong to the second class and are built up of 
proteins ; wool fibers, like plant fibers, are hollow, but 
unlike cotton and linen, they are scaley, while silk 
fibers are solid and, like plant fibers, they are smooth. 
It is these characteristics of various fibers that make 
dyestuffs act differently on different goods. 

Kinds of Dyestuffs. — There are two general 
classes of dyestuffs and these are (1) natural colors 
and (2) artificial colors. Natural colors include 
those made of (a) plant matter such as madder (an 
orange yellow), indigo (blue) and logwood (a red) ; 
(b) animal matter as cochineal (a red), kermes (a 
red) and lac-dye (a scarlet), all of which are made 

125 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 




^REDUCED) hollow (flAGNfFtED) 

Fig. 44. The Cotton Plant and Its Fibers 




(REDUCED) H f L E L0W (MAGNIFIED) 

Fig. 45. The Sheep and Its Fibers 





THE FIBERS 
ARE SOUP 



{REDUCED) (M/1GN/F1ED) 

Fig. 46. The Silkworm and Its Fibers 

126 



THE AET OF DYEING NICELY 

from insects; (c) mineral matter as chrome yellow 
or green , iron buff, prussian blue and manganese 
brown. Artificial dyes are nearly all coal tar prod- 
ucts as aniline, 1 and azo, 2 dyestufls, artificial indigo 
and allied dyes, sulphide and miscellaneous dyes. 

How Dyes Act on Goods. — All of the above dye- 
stuffs can be further divided into sub-classes and 
these are (1) substantive dyes and (2) adjective 
dyes. Substantive dyes are so called because they 
are direct dyeing colors, that is, all you have to do is 
to steep the goods in hot water in which one of them 
has been dissolved. Indigo is such a dye. 

Adjective dyes are those in which the goods must 
be mordanted, that is, boiled in a solution to fix the 
color and this is done either before or after the goods 
are dyed. Thus alizarine (C 14 H 8 4: ), or madder, 
will not of itself dye a fast color, but if it is used 
with a mordant of aluminum sulphate (A1 2 (S0 4 ) 3 ,- 
H 2 0), a red precipitate is formed which cannot be 
washed or faded out. 

The reason mordants must be used with many dye- 
stuffs is that they have little or no affinity for the 
fibers of which the goods are made; hence the fibers 
have no power to fix the coloring matter in them, that 
is, to make the dye insoluble and so, of course, the 
colors will not be fast. To change the dyestufT that 
is used into an insoluble compound, that is, to fix it, 

1 Aniline (C H 7 N) is a base obtained from coal-tar and from 
which many dyes are made. 

2 Azo, from the word azote as nitrogen was formerly called, 
hence a dye containing nitric acid. 

127 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

a third substance that has an affinity for both the 
dye and the goods must be used and this is called a 
mordant 

What Mordants Are. — The word mordant cornea 
from the French mordere which means to bite, for 
the old time dyers thought that such a solution bit 
its way through the fibers so that the colors could 
get into them and once there they could not get out. 
But modern chemistry has a slightly different theory 
which I will explain presently. 

Now mordants are of two kinds and these are (1) 
mordants that are basic and which must be used 
with those dyes that are acid, or acid dyes as they are 
called, and (2) mordants that are acid and must be 
used with dyes that are basic, or basic dyes. Nearly 
all mordants are basic and these are formed of the 
oxides of aluminum, tin, iron, copper, chromium, etc. 
The acid mordants are oxalic acid (C 2 H 2 4 ), tannic 
acid (HC1 4 H 9 9 ) and a few others. 

What Lakes Are. — A lake, so named from the 
Erench word laque, and this comes from lac which 
is a crimson and scarlet dye made from an East 
Indian scale insect called the Carteria lacca, is, ac- 
cording to chemistry, the color, or precipitate, which 
is formed in the fibers of the goods when a mordant 
combines chemically with a dye. 

How Mordants Make Colors. — Not only do mor- 
dants act on dyestuffs to fix them but when different 
mordants are used with the same dyestuff different 
shades and colors are produced. Thus if alizarine 

128 



THE AET OF DYEING NICELY 

(C1 4 H 8 4 ) is used with a mordant of aluminum 
sulphate (A1 2 (S0 4 ) 3 18H 2 0) a Turkey red will re- 
sult; if it is used with a mordant of ferric chloride 
(FeCl 3 ) violet will be produced, while with chro- 
mous acetate (Cr(C0 2 CH 3 ) 2 ) a maroon will be 
made. 

From this you will see that a chemical action takes 
place between the mordant and the dyestuff and a 
new coloring compound is formed which is entirely 
different from the original substances used. This 
being true, it stands to reason that great care must 
be taken to get the mordant of the right strength 
in order to get a given shade of the color you want. 

About Using Dyestuffs. — Cotton Goods. — There 
are two chief ways to dye cotton goods and these are 
(1) with substantive dyes, that is, dyeing the goods 
directly in the bath and this gives colors fast enough 
for all ordinary purposes, and (2) with adjective 
dyes and mordanting the goods either before or after 
dyeing. 

Woolen Goods. — Either substantive or adjective 
dyes can be used for dyeing woolen goods and there 
are about six ways in which the dyeing can be done ; 
named, these are (a) in a dye-bath containing acetic 
acid (HC0 2 CH 3 ), (b) in a neutral dye-bath, (c) 
in a dye-bath containing the decahydrate 3 of sodium 
sulphate (]STa 2 SO 4 .10H 2 O), that is, Glauber's salt; 
(d) in a dye-bath containing both Glauber's salt and 
sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) ; (e) in a bath of Glauber's 

8 Deca means ten and hydrate means water. 
129 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

salt and sulphuric acid, as cited in article (d) and 
then developing the color in the goods with chrome, 
that is, with potassium chromate (K 2 Cr0 4 ), and (f) 
to mordant the goods with chrome first and then dye 
them. 

Union Goods. — Where cotton, woolen and silk are 
woven together in any combination they are given 
the name of union goods. For such mixed goods 
union dyes can be bought as these will color both 
plant and animal fibers the same shade in the same 
bath at the same time. 

Dyeing at Home. — Preparing the Goods. — The 
first thing to do, whether you are an amateur or a 
job dyer, is to clean the garment or goods to be dyed. 
To do this remove all the stains and grease spots and 
then wash it well with pure soap to get out the dirt. 

If the old color is faded in spots or if the color is 
too dark it must be stripped, that is, all the color 
must be gotten out as nearly as possible. This you 
can do by boiling it repeatedly in clean water. Use 
pure soap for cotton and silk but do not use it for 
woolen goods. If the garment can be ripped apart a 
better job can be done, but if this is not practicable 
you must look after the dyeing of it very carefully in 
order to get an even color. 

Dyeing Cotton, Linen, Wool and Silk. — Where 
you only want to dye a piece of goods or a garment 
at home once in a while the economical way is to buy 
a 10-cent package of Diamond or Rainbow dye 
which you can get at the drug store. 

130 



THE AET OF DYEING NICELY 



These are substantive dyes put up ready for use 
and all you need to do is to mix the dye with a little 
cold water, then stir it in a quart of boiling water, 
a little at a time, and boil it until the dye is com- 
pletely dissolved. This done, strain the solution 





AGATE ENAMELLED 
PAN .MzJNCHES/N 
DIAMETER HOLDS 
20, QUARTS 



>? JACKETED PAN 
HOLDING FROM /O 
TO 40 GALLONS 

Fig. 47. Pans for Home and Job Dyeing 

through cheese cloth and pour it into a vessel which 
contains enough lukewarm water to cover the goods. 
Stir in a couple of teaspoonfuls of strong vinegar or 
put in 10 or 15 drops of acetic acid. 

Put the solution in a tin, porcelain or agateware 
vessel, see Fig. 47 (never in an iron one), put the 

131 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

goods in the bath and bring it slowly to a boil. Keep 
the bath boiling for i to J hour or until the color is 
as deep as you want it. All the time the goods are 
boiling in the bath keep working them around with 
a couple of broomsticks. After the goods are dyed 
rinse them in lukewarm water until all of the free 
color is out and then hang them up to dry. 

Doing Job Dyeing. — Preparing the Goods.— The 
goods must be cleaned as before written. Do not 
strip the old color unless it is absolutely necessary, 
but when this must be done use stannous chloride 
(SnCl 2 2H 2 0), which is tin (Sn), dissolved in hydro- 
chloric acid (HC1) ; it is very powerful and can be 
used for any kind of goods. 

Strippine is a prepared stripping agent which re- 
moves the color from goods and each dyemaker has 
his own special brand. It is in the form of a pow- 
der which you dissolve in hot water. 

Job Dyers' Colors. — You can use union dyes to 
good advantage. The alkali dyes sold by makers are 
used for woolen goods in a bath in which there is sal 
soda or other alkali. Acid, or sour dyes, are good 
for all kinds of silks from ribbands to yarns and are 
very easy to use. 

Then there are substantive, or direct, and adjec- 
tive, or mordant, dyes for cotton goods; after- 
chromed dyes for woolens ; monachrome, metachrome 
and alizarine chromat colors, all of which are artifi- 
cial dyestuffs; and, finally, there are saddened dyes 
which are the old-time wood dyestuffs. Eor job dye- 

132 



THE AKT OF DYEING NICELY 

ing you need a jacketed pan as shown at B in Eig. 
47. ' 

Dealers in Dyestuffs. — There are any number of 
dealers in the above-named and other dyestuffs. The 
following carry large stocks of all kinds and will give 
you any further information you may want : Herman 
A. Metz and Co., 122 Hudson Street; Cassella Color 
Co., 182 Front Street, and A. Klipstein and Co., 
122 Pearl Street, all in New York City. These dye- 
stuff makers have agencies in many of the largest 
cities of the United States, so there may be one near 
you. 



CHAPTEE XI 
THE LEATHER AND RUBBER YOU USE 

The art of making leather from the skins of ani- 
mals is nearly as old as the cave-man himself. Now 
there are two chief ways by which skins are made 
into leather and these are (1) by tawing, and (2) 
by tanning. 

What Tawing and Tanning Mean. — Tawing is 
the way the redskin made deerskin into buckskin and 
it is also the way that palefaces to-day convert the 
skins of sheep, goats and calves into wash leather, or 
chamois (pronounced sham'-i) as it is called, and 
hid for gloves, shoes, etc. 

There are two ways by which tawing is done, 
namely, (a) with oil, and (b) with alum. In oil 
tawing the skin is rubbed with oils, and in alum 
tawing, as it is practiced at the present time, it is 
soaked in a solution, or liquor as it is called, of alum 
(K 2 S0 4 ,A1 2 (S0 4 ) 3 24H 2 0), salt (NaCl) and water 
(H 2 0). 

Tanning is the scheme of making leather by soak- 
ing the skin or hide 1 in an infusion made of oak or 
hemlock bark in which there is tannin, or tannic acid 
(HC 14 H 9 9 ), and this acts on the gelatin substances 

1 The skin of a large animal is usually called a hide. 
134 



THE LEATHEE AND KUBBER YOU USE 

that are in the skin and forms insoluble compounds 
with it. 
Preparing Skins for Tawing and Tanning. — 

A skin, or hide, as shown in Fig. 48, consists of two 
layers and these are (1) the upper, or surface layer 
which is the cuticle, and (2) the under layer, or 

TRUE Skltf SURFACE SKIM 




Fig. 48. Cross Section of Skin 
(Magnified) 



coricum, as it is called, and it is this latter layer 
the leather is made of. 

Now to make leather out of a skin it must be 
cleaned to remove the surface layer from the under 
layer. This is done by washing the skin well and 
then soaking it in hot water until it gets soft enough 
so that the fleshy parts can be scraped off. This soft- 
ening process takes several days and it is helped 
along by beating the skin with sticks or hammers. 

This done, a lot of the skins are put into a pit 
135 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH) 2 ), that is, slacked 
lime dissolved in water (H 2 0), or milk of lime, as 
it is called, is poured over them and this loosens up 
the hair and the surface skin as well. Now when 
the skins are taken out of the vat the surface skin 
can be easily removed from the under skin with a 
knife. 

The next and last thing to do before the skins are 




Fig. 49. How Tawing Is Done 

tawed or tanned is to steep them in a dilute acid 
solution when they swell up and are further soft- 
ened. 

How Tawing Is Done. — Oil Tawing. — After the 
skins are made ready in this fashion, a little phenol 
(C 6 H 5 OH), that is, carbolic acid, is put into some 
fish oil and this solution is rubbed well and often 
into them. See Eig. 49. 

They are then beaten by hand, or in a fulling 
machine, dried in the open air and the operations 

136 



THE LEATHEE AND KUBBER YOU USE 

of rubbing and beating are again gone through with 
until the skins have lost all of their natural odor. 
The oil is then washed off with a weak solution of 
warm sodium hydroxide (ISTaOH), that is, caustic 
soda, and finally the leather thus made is dried and 
finished. 

Alum Tawing. — After the skins have been pre- 
pared as explained above each one is put to 
soak in a lukewarm solution of potassium alum 
(K 2 S0 4 Al2(S0 4 )324H 2 0), that is, common alum, 
and sodium chloride (ISTaCl), or common salt. The 
reaction between them gives aluminum chloride 
(AICI3) and this goes into the pores of the skin and 
makes it into leather. 

To make fine hid leather the skins are soaked in 
a solution of alum, salt, flour and yolks of eggs. The 
oil in the yolks makes the leather very soft and a 
fine polish is given it by putting white of egg on a 
glass disk and rubbing it down. 

How Tanning Is Done.— Tanning is done in two 
ways and these are (1) in liquor, and (2) in the 
hark. In either case the tannic acid is the active 
substance which does the tanning. 

Tanning in liquor is done by cleaning and liming 
the skins, or hides first, and then soaking them in 
succession in vats filled with solutions of tannin, each 
of which is made stronger than the one before. By 
this treatment the pores of the skins or hides are en- 
tirely filled with tannin which changes them into 
leather. 

137 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 



It takes from 6 to 8 weeks to tan thin skins and 
from 12 to 14 weeks to tan thick hides by this pro- 
cess. 

Tanning in the bark is accomplished by lining a 
pit with boards, spreading a layer of spent tan bark 
on the floor of it and then piling layers of hides and 
fresh tan bark alternately, covering the pile thus 



MJRF/7CF OF 

GROUNP 




SPENT 

Afresh 

T/WQARK 



SPENTBJ1RK 



WOOD LINING 
FIND BOTTOM 

Fig. 50. Ckoss Section of Pit fob Tailing Hides 



made with spent bark and filling the pit with water, 
all of which is shown in Eig. 50. 

At the end of 2 or 3 months the hides are taken 
out and put in another pit with less bark and after 
remaining in this for 3 or 4 months they are again 
transferred to another pit with still less bark in it 
and kept there for 5 or 6 months. At the end of this 
time, the hides have been converted into good old- 
fashioned leather. 

How Shoe Leathers Are Made.— The Use of Ex- 
tracts.— Until 30 years ago the above process which 

138 



THE LEATHEE AND EUBBER YOU USE 

took a year or so was thought to be the only one by 
which good leather could be made, but since then 
extracts, such as quebracho (pronounced ke-bra'-cho) , 
which is the bark of a South American tree, have 
been employed almost altogether and the time of 
tanning has been cut down to a month or so. 

The Chrome Alum Process. — This is another great 
time-saving scheme and is largely used for making 
upper leathers for shoes. 

The skins are cleaned as before and then put in 
a solution of potassium dichromate (K 2 Cr 2 7 ), that 
is, bichromate of potash, and hydrochloric acid 
(HC1), that is, muriatic acid, for a few hours. They 
are next transferred to a drum which contains the 
same kind of a liquor when they are revolved for 
about 12 hours. 

The skins are then removed, the liquor is pressed 
out of them and they are soaked in a second 
tank tilled with a solution of sodium thiosulphate 
(!N"a 2 S 2 3 ), commonly called hyposulphite of soda, 
or just hypo for short, and hydrochloric acid (HC1), 
when they become leather. 

Split Leathers. — In making these leathers the hide 
is partly tanned and then split by a machine into 
three layers, namely, (1) the lower, or slab, or 
leveler, which is used for insoles; (2) the middle or 
dash-split; and (3) the upper part called the hide 
or grain. The last two are then put back in the 
liquor and the tanning completed. 

Imitation Leathers. — The demand for leather is 
139 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

greater now than ever before and imitation leathers 
are used wherever possible. Among the imitation 
leathers are (1) leather cloth which is unbleached 
muslin coated with an enamel made of linseed oil, 
turpentine and lampblack; (2) molded leather made 
of leather parings beaten to a pulp, mixed with a 
binder and pressed into shape, and (3) vegetable 
leather which consists of linen coated with raw rub- 
ber dissolved in naphtha. The DuPont Company, 
of Wilmington, Del., make a very fine imitation 
leather called fabricoid, and they will send you sam- 
ples on request. 

Kubbee 

It was Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, who 
advised, in 1770, the use of a peculiar black sub- 
stance which came from the tropics of the new world, 
as an excellent thing to rub out pencil marks with 
and hence the name rubber. 

The compound word india-rubber was given to it 
not because it came from India but from the West 
Indies. The word caoutchouc (pronounced cu'-chuc) 
is the French synonym for rubber and they got it 
from caucho which word is used in Brazil to-day to 
mean rubber from a certain kind of tree, and in turn 
the natives get it from caa, which means wood, and 
o-chu, meaning to run or weep, hence caucho means 
a tree that weeps and its tears are crude rubber. 

What Rubber Is. — Rubber then is the sap of the 
rubber tree and the chief sources of rubber supply 

140 



THE LEATHEE AKD EUBBEE YOU USE 

are South America and Africa. One way of tapping 
a rubber tree is shown in Fig. 51. The sap is a milk- 
white sticky, semi-fluid compound as it comes from 
the tree but soon turns hard and black in the air. 




Fig. 51. Spiral Method op Tapping a Rubbeb Tree 



The formula for crude rubber is (C 10 K 16 )x) as it 
comes from the tree. 

What Vulcanization Means. — Up to the year of 
1838 all efforts to use rubber for waterproofing and 
in other useful ways failed entirely because it could 
not be made so that it would not get sticky in sum- 
mer and crack badly in winter. 

141 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

Hot Vulcanization. — In the year above named 
Charles Goodyear, who had been experimenting with 
rubber for a long time, discovered how to make it 
durable. The legend says that he accidentally let 
some rubber and sulphur (S) fall on a hot stove and 
that when he removed it, he found that the heat had 
greatly increased its strength and made it more elas- 
tic. This process he called vulcanization. 




f 

Fig. 52. A. Dry Heat Vulcanizer for Vulcanizing Tires 

When vulcanized rubber contains about 2.5 per 
cent of sulphur, it is soft and elastic and has a for- 
mula of (C 10 H 16 ) 10 S 2 ) and when it contains about 30 
per cent of sulphur it becomes hard rubber with an 
approximate formula of C 10 H 16 S 2 . 

Goodyear found further that the amount of sul- 
phur used and the heat applied determined its de- 

142 



THE LEATHEK AND EUBBER YOU USE 

gree of elasticity and whether it would be soft or 
hard. The former was then called gum elastic or 
as we call it now simply rubber. The raw rubber 
can be bought ready mixed with the sulphur in sheets 




Fig. 52. B. Steam Vulcanizes foe Vulcanizing Aetificial 

Teeth 



ready for vulcanizing. 1 Eig. 52 shows two schemes 
for vulcanizing rubber. 

Cold Vulcanization. — This process is sometimes, 
and better, called cold curing and is done by the ac- 

lr The S. S. White Dental Mfg. Co., 5 Union Square, New 
York, sp!1s it. 

143 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

tion of dilute sulphur chloride (S 2 C1 2 ) on raw rub- 
ber in benzol (C 6 H 6 ), that is, benzene, and this 
gives a rubber product having a formula of 
(C 10 H 16 )2S 2 Cl2). 

You can make a good rubber cement by dissolving 
raw rubber in carbon disulphide (CS 2 ) which is a 
solvent for both rubber and sulphur. You can then 
use it for patching rubber boots and the like. 

How Synthetic Rubber Is Made. — There is a 
substance called isoprene (C 5 H 8 ) which when heated 
with sodium (Nsl) or some other contact agent, 
changes into crude rubber (C 5 H 8 )ic). While it is 
possible to make synthetic rubber, it has not yet been 
done on a commercial scale because isoprene is too 
costly a raw substance to begin with. 



CHAPTER XII 

WHAT COMMON THINGS ARE MADE OF 

It would take a book of considerable size to ex- 
plain the chemistry of all the common things in use, 
but since I have but a chapter to spare I can only 
tell you briefly about a few of them. 





CHALK 



Br OYSTER SHELL Cr EGG SHELL 





Or CORAL Er P£/?£LS 

Fig. 53. All These Are Made of Calcium Carbonate 
(CaC0 3 ) ob Limestone 

In and Around the House. — Chalk, oyster and 
egg-shells, coral and pearls are formed of calcium 
carbonate (CaC0 3 ), that is, limestone, see Fig. 53, 
and more will be said anon of this substance. Black- 
board chalk, or crayon, is not chalk at all but cal- 

145 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

cium sulphate (CaS0 4 2H 2 0) ? or gypsum as it is 
called. 

Plaster of Paris is calcium sulphate, or gypsum 
too, and when the latter is heated it breaks up in a 
powder, making plaster of Paris. It then has the 
power to take up water and makes a solid substance, 
and this process is called setting. 




Fig. 54. The Lead in the Pencil and the Diamond in the 

King Are Both Crystallized Carbon (C) 

(They are alike — only different) 

Carborundum and emery, rubies and sapphires are 
all almost as hard as the diamond and all of them 
are formed chiefly of aluminum oxide (A1 2 3 ), or 
alumina, and they can be made synthetically by 
passing the oxide through an oxyhydrogen blowpipe. 

Epsom salts, or bitter salts, or just salts when you 
take 'em, are found in many spring waters and are 
magnesium sulphate (MgSo 4 7H 2 0). Glue is gela- 

146 



WHAT COMMON" THINGS AEE MADE OF 

tine of an impure kind and is obtained by boiling the 
skin, horns and hoofs of animals. Glycerine 
(C 3 H 5 (OH) 3 ) is an alcohol and is largely found in 
fats. 

Graphite is, next to the diamond, the purest kind 
of carbon (C). Graphite is so soft that it is used 
for lubricating machinery while diamond is the 
hardest substance known, yet both are crystallized 
forms of carbon. Two chief uses of these forms of 
carbon are shown in Fig. 54. 

Ink, such as you write with, is made by mixing 
ferrous sulphate (FeS0 4 ,7H 2 0) with tannic acid 
(HC 14 H 9 9 ) and water (H 2 0) ; this forms a clear 
ink but when you write with it the air changes it 
to ferric t annate (Fe(So 4 ) 3 ) which is a precipitate 
and it becomes jet-black. A little nigrosine 
(C 3 qH 27 N 3 ), which is a blue-black coal tar dyestuff, 
is added to the ink so that you can see it as you write. 

Lunar caustic is the common name of nitrate of 
silver (AgN0 3 ) when it is molded in sticks. It is 
used to burn out sores as it destroys the flesh and it 
does this by combining with proteins when insoluble 
compounds are formed. It gets its name f~om luna, 
which is Latin for the moon, and this was the al- 
chemists' name for silver. It is made by dissolving 
silver (Ag) in nitric acid (HlSTOg). From this so- 
lution crystals are deposited and these are melted and 
run into sticks. 

Matches are of two kinds. Common matches are 
made by tipping the splints with sulphur (S) or 

147 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

paraffin. The tipped ends are then dipped into a 
mixture of white phosphorus (P), potassium chlorate 
(KCIO3) and glue. Safety matches are tipped with 
potassium chlorate and antimony sulphide (Sb 2 S 3 ) ; 
on the side of the box on which they are struck is 
coated black manganese dioxide (Mn0 2 ), red phos- 
phorus (P), powdered glass and glue. Roach and 




*z^ o^-» 



Fig. 55. Wood and Paper Are the Same Substance; That 
Is, Cellulose (CoEL-oOs) 



rat poison is very often made of phosphorus mixed 
with flour and lard. 

Paper consists chiefly of cellulose (C 6 H 10 O 5 ) and 
this in turn is what the tissues of all plants are made 
of ; wood, cotton, flax, and hemp are almost pure cel- 
lulose, though Fig. 55 would not so indicate it. To 
make paper these materials are broken up by boiling 
with sodium hydroxide (NaOH), that is, caustic 

148 



WHAT COMMON THINGS AKE MADE OF 

soda, and then made into a pulp by "being cut up. 
Next the pulp is mixed with water and pressed into 
sheets between rollers. The paper is sized with resin 
or alum to keep the ink from running; it is loaded 
with clay or gypsum to give it body, and dyestuffs 
are added to color it. 

Earthen and Other Ware. — Clay and kaolin is 
a kind of earth formed by water (H 2 0) and carbon 
dioxide (C0 2 ) acting on granite and rocks of other 
kinds which have feldspar (KalSi 3 8 ). in them. 
This action removes the potash and changes the 
compound into a hydrated aluminum silicate 
(H 2 Al 2 (Si0 4 ) 2 H 2 0). When this is impure it is 
called clay and when it is quite pure it is known as 
Tcaolin. 

Flowerpots, earthenware and jugs are made of 
common clay and are baked at a low temperature. 
Flower pots are not glazed and hence are porous, but 
earthenware and jugs are glazed by throwing sodium 
chloride (NaCl), that is, common salt, into the fire 
when it forms a water-tight film on the surface of 
them. 

Crockery, stoneware and graniteware are made of 
better grades of clay and contain lead to make them 
harder and a very heavy glaze is put on them. 

China and porcelain are made of pure clay or 
kaolin with which feldspar (KAlSi 3 8 ) and quartz, 
which are largely silicon dioxide (Si0 2 ), are mixed 
and ground with water. The mixture is then molded 
and fired at a low temperature. The glaze is put on 

149 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

with feldspar and quartz by heating them red hot 
for three or four days. A few objects made of clay 
are pictured in Fig. 56. 

Some Building Materials. — Wood is cellulose 
(C 6 H 10 O 5 ) and however large the tree its tissues are 
just the same as the most delicate plant. Hence it 
can be used for making paper as well as building 
houses. 

Sand, quartz, rock crystal, chalcedony, onyx, agate, 







UNGL/JZED CROCKERY STONEWARE CHINAWARE 
FLOWERPOT BOWL J SIR PJTCHER 

Fig. 56. These Useful Things Abe All Made of Alumi- 
num Silicate (H 2 Al 2 (Si0 4 ) 2 H 2 0) or Clay 



jasper and flint are all formed chiefly of silicon (Si) 
compounds. Silicon is a non-metal and is never 
found free but chiefly in combination with oxygen 
(0) in the form of silicon dioxide (Si0 2 ) or silica 
as it is called. 

Sandstone is sand cemented together. Quartz is 
silicon dioxide in crystal form; so is rock-crystal 
only it is a purer kind and amethyst is a purple kind 
of quartz. Chalcedony is an uncrystallized form of 
silicon dioxide. Agate, jasper and onyx are colored 
kinds of chalcedony while opal and flint are hydrated 

150 






WHAT COMMON THINGS ARE MADE OF 



silicon dioxide (Si0 2 +H 2 0), that is, the latter is 
combined with a little water. 

Glass (Na 2 0,CaO,6Si0 2 ) is made by melting sili- 
con dioxide (Si0 2 ), that is, sand, calcium carbonate 
(CaC0 3 ), that is, lime, and sodium carbonate 
(ISTaCOs), that is, soda, together; this makes soda 
or soft glass as it is called, and is the kind used for 
window lights. The way lamp chimneys are blown 
is shown in Fig. 57. Plate glass is the same kind but 





/? B c ^ 

Fig. 57. Blowing a Lamp Chimney 

A. Taking the melted glass from the furnace on the end 
of the blowpipe 

B. Blowing the ball of melted glass 

C. Putting the blown glass into the mould 

D. The chimney complete 

the mixture is rolled and polished until the surfaces 
are perfectly true. 

Bohemian glass is made of potassium carbonate 
(K 2 C0 3 ), that is, potash, instead of sodium carbon- 
ate, that is, soda. Flint glass contains lead (Pb) 
instead of lime, and this is largely used for lenses 
and chemical apparatus. Colored glass is made by 
putting in the melted mixture cobalt (Co) for blue, 

151 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

copper (Cu) or chronium (Cr) for green, iron (Fe) 
for green bottle glass, silver (Ag) for yellow and gold 
(An) for red. Cheap glass dishes, etc., are made 
by pressing melted glass in a die. 

Granite is a crystalline rock formed of feldspar, 
qnartz and mica (KH 2 Al 3 (Si0 4 ) 3 ). Limestone is 
formed of calcium carbonate (CaC0 3 ) and this in 
turn is composed of calcium (Ca) and carbon dioxide 
(C0 2 ), that is, carbonic acid. 




cement sand aggregate oh water concrete, 

crushedstone 

Fig. 58. These Substances Make Concrete 



Marble is a pure kind of calcium carbonate 
(CaC0 3 ) and was formed by heat and pressure when 
the earth was young but kept the carbon dioxide that 
was in it. 

Lime, or quicklime as it is sometimes called, is 
calcium oxide (CaO) and it is made by heating 
calcium carbonate (CaC0 3 ), that is, limestone, which 
decomposes and forms lime, and carbon dioxide 
(C0 2 ). Lime cannot be melted, but when water 
is put on it it begins to crack to a white powder and 
gets so hot that it generates steam. This process is 

152 



WHAT COMMON THINGS AKE MADE OF 

called slacking and the product is calcium hydroxide 
(Ca(OH) 2 ), that is, slacked lime. 

Mortar is made of slacked lime, sand and water 
and when this compound is exposed to the air it 
changes into calcium carbonate (CaC0 3 ), that is, 
limestone, and gets very hard. 

Portland, or hydraulic cement is made by heating 
the right amounts of limestone (CaC0 3 ), clay 
(HAlSi0 4 ) and sand (Si0 4 ) or a natural rock hav- 
ing all of these compounds in it. When mixed with 
water it forms a mass that gets hard and sets in a 
short time. Different from mortar, it will set under 
water. Concrete is simply a mixture of Portland 
cement, sand and broken stone. Fig. 58 shows ap- 
proximately the proportions these substances must 
be mixed to make concrete. 



CHAPTER XIII 
GOOD PAINTS AND OILS 

Paint is a liquid used to cover the surface of 
things for the purpose of (1) to make them artistic, 
(2) to preserve them, or (3) to make them sanitary. 

Kinds of Paints. — In general there are two 
kinds of paint and these are (A) water colors, or 
those made with water, and (B) oil paints, or those 
made with oils. There are three parts to a paint, 
namely, (a) the pigment, (b) the oil, and (c) the 
volatile spirit. In nearly all paints (d) a drier is 
used and (e) varnish is occasionally put in. 

A pigment is either a dry or a mixed color. The 
oil is a drying oil, that is, one that dries by absorb- 
ing oxygen which hardens it instead of by evapora- 
tion and for this reason vegetable oils are used in- 
stead of mineral oils. The volatile spirit is usually 
turpentine (C 10 H 16 ), that is, a solution of resin in 
terpin, or oil of turpentine as it is called, and this 
evaporates quickly. Driers and varnishes will be ex- 
plained presently. 

Kinds of Pigments. — Pigments, or colors, are of 
three general kinds and these are (1) natural, or 
earth colors, (2) chemical colors, and (3) plant, 
animal and coal-tar colors. While coal-tar colors 

154 



GOOD PAINTS AND OILS 

are produced chemically they are primarily plant 
and animal matters. 

Natural or Earth Colors. — Barium sulphate 
(BaS0 4 ), or barytes, is made of natural barium 
sulphate or by crushing heavy spar, that is, barite, 
and treating it with acid to remove the iron. It is 
a white pigment and is largely used to mix with 
white lead and zinc white and large amounts of it 
are mixed with colored pigments. 

Ochre is a yellow color formed of 60 per cent of 
ferric oxide (Fe 2 3 ) and 40 per cent of aluminum 
silicate (H 2 Al 2 (Si0 4 ) 2 H 2 0), that is, kaolin. Sienna 
is really a bright ochre but when it is burnt it turns 
a fine brown color. Raw umber is an olive brown 
color and burnt umber is reddish-brown. It consists 
of ferric oxide (Fe 2 3 ), manganese dioxide (Mn0 2 ) 
and silicon (Si) ; when umber is highly heated it 
changes the hydrated ferric oxide (Fe 2 3 ,H 2 0) and 
this increases the red brown color of it. 

Terra verte, or green earth as it is called, is formed 
of 20 per cent of ferric oxide (Fe 2 3 ), that is, iron 
rust, and 80 per cent of silicon oxide (Si0 2 ), that is, 
silica. It is a brilliant green and a very permanent 
color. 

Vandyke brown was formerly a natural earth but 
most of it now is made by mixing burnt cork, ferric 
oxide and yellow ochre. Venetian red is made of 
calcium sulphate (CaS0 4 ,H 2 0) or gypsum, ferric ox- 
ide (Fe 2 3 ), aluminum silicate (H 2 Al 2 (Si0 4 ) 2 H 2 0) 
and manganese dioxide (Mn0 2 ). 

155 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

Chemical Colors. — Blanc fixe, or permanent 
white, is a chemical compound having the same for- 
mula as barytes (BaS0 4 ). It is sometimes used as 
an adulterant for white lead and zinc white. It is 
also used in making lithopone. 

Lithopone is a mixture of barium sulphate 
(BaS0 4 ) and zinc sulphate (ZnS). It has a greater 
covering power than white lead and is not poisonous 
but it is seldom used for outside work because it is 
apt to change color and does not last well. 

Brunswick blue is a cheap kind of Prussian blue; 
it is made by mixing a lot of barytes with a little 
Prussian blue. Cobalt blue is a compound of alumi- 
num oxide (A1 2 3 ) or alumina and cobaltic oxide 
(Co 2 3 ) and is a beautiful ultramarine blue. 

Prussian blue is ferric ferro-cyanide of potassium 
(Fe 4 [Fe(CH) 6 ] 3 ), and although it is closely related 
to Prussic acid which is a deadly poison it is not 
itself a poison. Ultramarine is an all-round blue. 
It was formerly made of the rare mineral lapis lazuli 
but it is now made chemically of aluminum carbonate 
(Na 2 C0 3 H 2 0), that is, soda, sulphur (S) and char- 
coal, its formula being 4NaAlSi0 4 ,!Na 2 S 2 . It is a 
fast color to light but is affected by sulphur. 

Lead Chromes. — Chrome yellow is lead chromate 
(PbCr0 4 ). Chrome green is of two kinds, namely, 
(a) that made from pure lead chromate and (b) 
that made from chromic oxide. These are costly 
colors but they are very durable. Chrome red is a 
basic lead chromate (Pb 2 OCr0 4 ) and is of a reddish 

156 



GOOD PAINTS AND OILS 

orange color; it is also called American vermillion. 
White lead , see Fig. 59, is a basic lead carbonate 
(Pb(OH)C0 3 ) 2 ) and is made by the interaction of 
acetic acid (HC0 2 CH 3 ) with lead oxide (PbO) or 
litharge, which results in a white powder. This is 
ground in oil by the paint manufacturer and it is 
then sold to the painter who mixes it with linseed oil, 
turpentine and colors. Red lead, or minium as it 




Fig. 59. Drawn from a Photomicrogbaph of White Lead 
(Pb(OH)C0 3 ) 2 ) 



is called, is also American vermillion. It is made 
by heating lead oxide (PbO) in the air when it ab- 
sorbs oxygen from the latter and it then becomes 
red lead with the formula Pb 3 4 . It is a bright red 
pigment and makes a good drier for oils. Use it 
when you want to paint iron work. 

Zinc white, a magnified view of which is shown 
in Fig. 60, is zinc oxide (ZnO) and is largely used 
as a base for white paints instead of white lead. It 
has a greater spreading power than white lead and 
does not turn black, but is not so lasting. 

157 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

Blacks of which there are several kinds are very 
durable. Drop black is so called from the cones 
which drop from the mill in which the pigment is 
ground. Ivory black is the best grade of bone-black; 
bone-black is bone charcoal, that is, it is made by 
heating bones in a retort without air. Lampblack 
is made from the soot given off by burning the waste 
products of oil, etc. 

Plant, Animal and Coal Tar Colors. — Among 




Fig. 60. Drawn fbom a Photo-miceograph of Zinc White 

(ZnO) 



the plants that furnish colors for painting are in- 
digo, logwood, tumeric and madder. The chief ani- 
mal color is cochineal from which carmine is made. 
Coal tar pigments are obtained from artificial and 
synthetic dyes which are described in the Chapter 
on Dyeing. 

What Lakes Are. — That class of pigments called 
lakes is made by combining a plant, animal or coal 
tar color with the oxide of a metal, usually tin or 
aluminum oxide. Lakes for painting are like lakes 

158 



GOOD PAINTS AND OILS 

for dyeing in that a precipitate of the pigment and 
the oxide is formed. 

A blue lake is formed of indigo, cobalt blue or 
ultramarine and aluminum oxide (A1 2 3 ), that is, 
alumina; purple lake of logwood and alumina; 
orange lake of tumeric and alumina, and, finest of 




Fig. 61. A Box of Artist's Oil Colors 



all, carmine lake is made of cochineal and alumina. 
A box of artist's colors is pictured in Fig. 61. 

Kinds of Colors that Last. — The following colors 
will not fade and will wear well; hence they are 
called permanent colors; for blue use ultramarine 
or cobalt; for green use chromium oxide or terre 
vert; for red use Vermillion or ochre; for yellow use 

159 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

Naples yellow, raw sienna or yellow ochre; for 
brown use raw and burnt umber and burnt sienna, 
while all kinds of whites and blacks are lasting unless 
they have been adulterated or are impure. 

Oils, Driers and Thinners. — Oils. — There are a 
dozen kinds of oils that can be used to mix pigments 
with and these are all vegetable oils, that is, oils 
obtained from plants. Mineral oils are of no value 
because they can't take up the oxygen from the air 
and so they will not dry. 

Raw linseed oil is the oil of the seed of the flax 
plant and is obtained by grinding, heating and press- 
ing. As linseed oil dries rapidly, it is good for all 
kinds of work and as it forms an elastic solid film 
it is the chief oil now used for making paint. 

Boiled linseed oil usually has red lead (Pb 3 4 ) 
or manganese dioxide (Mn0 2 ) put into it as these 
substances increase the affinity of the oil for oxygen 
and hence make it dry quicker. 

Driers. — Besides red lead and manganese other 
substances such as the oxide and carbonate of cobalt 
and the oxide and sulphate of nickel are used as 
driers. Cobalt driers are quicker in action than lead 
and manganese but very little must be used in white 
paint or it will turn it yellow. 

Thinners. — To make paint flow easier it must be 
thinned down by spirit, as it is called. Turpentine 
(C 10 H 16 ) is the thinner mostly used. It is made 
by distilling crude resin obtained from various kinds 
of pine trees. While all of the turpentine evaporates 

160 



GOOD PAINTS AND OILS 

when the paint is pnt on, it does help it to dry some- 
what. 

What Varnishes Are. — When a gum or a resin 
is dissolved in a liquid, or menstruum as it is called, 
it makes a varnish. Now when a varnish is put on 
a wood surface it gives it a hard, transparent and 
shiny finish. 

Varnishes are usually named from (1) the men- 
struum in which the gums are dissolved and (2) the 
gums that are used. The two chief kinds of varnishes 
are (A) spirit varnishes, made hy dissolving gums 
or lacs in alcohol, and (B) oil varnishes in which 
gums such as copal, amber, mastic, etc., are melted 
and then mixed with hoiled linseed oil. 

About Ready Mixed Paints. — Keady mixed 
paints can he had in any color, tint or shade. The 
main thing is to get paints that are freshly made even 
in cans as nearly all ready mixed paints lose in value 
when they get old. For small johs, though, they are 
cheaper, and are great time and trouble savers. The 
constituents of a good mixed white paint are shown 
in Fig. 62. 

Simple Tests for Pigments, Oils and Var- 
nishes. — White Lead. — It is most important that 
white lead should he pure. You can easily tell if it 
is reduced with harytes, which is the common adul- 
terant, in this way: in a 4-ounce bottle half full of 
water drop a little dry white lead and shake well; 
then put in a few drops of nitric acid (HN0 3 ) and 
shake it up again. Now if there is any barytes in 

161 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 
UNSEED 0/L Z7.5°/o 



SUBLIMATED 
WH/TE LEAD 

Z5.0°/o 



Z/NC 

OXIDE, 

6.3% 



CALCIUM 
C/U&0N/FTEZ33y>- 



BARIUM 
SULPHATE 

6.7% 




MAGNESIUM 
SILICATE 
S.O c /o 



DRYER 
4Z°/o 



Fig. 62. What the Best Ready Mixed Paint Is Made of 



the white lead it will not dissolve but. if it is pure 
white lead it will all dissolve. 

Lakes and Mineral Pigments. — To tell whether a 
162 






GOOD PAINTS AND OILS 

pigment is a lake or a mineral color neat a clean piece 
of sheet iron red hot and drop on it a bit of the pig- 
ment. If it is a lake or plant or an animal color it 
will burn up leaving an ash, but if it is a mineral 
color it will remain unchanged. The exception to 
this test is vermillion and this will evaporate. 

Linseed Oil. — A simple test is to taste it; if it is 
adulterated it will have a sharp and sometimes bitey 
taste, while pure linseed oil is nearly tasteless. 

Turpentine. — Put a drop on a sheet of writing 
paper and let it dry ; if any grease remains it shows 
that it is adulterated or not properly refined, but if 
it is good and pure it will evaporate completely. 

Oil Varnishes. — Good oil varnishes should be 
clear and bright. Resin is one of the adulterants 
used to cheapen it and this you can test for easily: 
wet a piece of thick felt with water, lay it on the 
film of varnish, put a flat iron on top of it and let 
it stand for 12 hours or so. If now on removing 
the weight the varnished surface is chalky white the 
varnish very likely has resin in it. 



CHAPTER XIV 

PHOTO- AND ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY 

It may take a little thought to realize that light 
and electricity have some .properties in common but 
when you consider that both are phases of the same 
kind of energy and are set up by, act in and are 
transmitted through the same medium, namely, the 
ether, it will seem logical enough. Now one of the 
ways in which light and electricity act similarly is 
in the decomposition of chemical compounds. 

Photo-Chemistry 

When light decomposes a substance it is called a 
'photochemical action. You remember that over in 
the chapter on Cleaning, Bleaching and Disinfecting 
light had a good deal to do with bleaching goods; 
now there are many substances that light has a de- 
cided action on but what we are interested in here is 
the action of light in making photographs. 

How Photographs Are Made. — You know, of 
course, that to make a photograph you need (1) a 
camera to get the negative and (2) a printing frame 
to get a print from the negative. The way the lens 
of a camera projects a reduced image of an object 

164 



PHOTO- AND ELECTKO-CHEMISTKY 



on a dry-plate or film belongs to the physics of pho- 
tography but the way in which the light of the image 
makes a negative or a print is confined to the chem- 
istry of photography. 

The Action of Light on Silver. — The substance 
that is most quickly acted on and changed by light 
are the salts of silver, and the chief silver salts are 




SILVER NITRATE 
CRYSTALS (*$No$ 




B:TNE CRYSTALS OF 
SILVER NITRATE 



NITRIC AClD(rtN0 3 ) 
SILVER CAg) 




fir fl/IKING SILVER Cr NITRATE OF SJLYER 

NITRATE (AgNO^ CRYSTALS (enlarged) 

Fig. 63. Making Nitrate of Silver (AgNO,) 



silver nitrate (AgN0 3 ), silver chloride (AgCl) and 
silver bromide (AgBr). Silver chloride and silver 
bromide which are used in photography are made 
from silver nitrate so let's find out first how the lat- 
ter is formed. 

How to Make Silver Nitrate. — Take a bit of 
pure silver (Ag) the size of a dime and drop it into 

165 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

i an ounce of nitric acid (H^"0 3 ) and a couple of 
ounces of water (H 2 0). Erom this solution crystals 
of nitrate of silver (AgN0 3 ) will form when water 
(H 2 0) will be left and nitric oxide gas (NO) will 
pass off. 

If now you will dissolve the crystals of silver ni- 
trate in a beaker of filtered water and stand the 
solution in the sunlight it will not darken but if you 
coat a sheet of paper with it the light readily acts 
on it and turns it brown. ' A and B in Eig. 63 show 
how a little silver nitrate can be made. 

How to Make Silver Chloride. — To make this 
silver salt, dissolve some sodium chloride (ISTaCl) or 
common salt, in water (H 2 0), then dissolve silver 
nitrate (AgN0 3 ) in water when a double decompo- 
sition takes place and the silver nitrate and sodium 
chloride change into silver chloride (AgCl) and so- 
dium nitrate (NslN0 3 ). The silver chloride then 
separates as a curdy, white precipitate. 

How Silver Bromide Is Made. — Silver bromide 
(AgBr) is made by using potassium bromide (KBr) 
instead of sodium nitrate as described above for 
making silver chloride. 

How Dry Plates and Films Are Made. — Dry 
plates and films are made by coating glass plates and 
thin sheets of celluloid * with an emulsion. 2 This is 
made of gelatine in which silver nitrate (AgJTO 3 ) 

1 Celluloid is a mixture of guncotton and camphor. 

2 An emulsion is a liquid mixture in which particles of m\\K9 
or less solid matter are held in suspension. 

166 



PHOTO- AND ELECTEO-CHEMISTEY 

and ammonium bromide (NH 4 N0 3 ) have been 
added when a double decomposition takes place in 
which ammonium nitrate (NH3NO3) and silver bro- 
mide (AgBr) are formed. 

The emulsion is then allowed to ripen, that is, 
it is kept in a warm place until the silver bromide 
has formed little grains in it; next it is allowed to 
get cold when it becomes a jelly and this is cut up 
and washed in water which dissolves out the ammo- 
nium nitrate; this and the ripening process make 
the emulsion very sensitive to the light. The plates 
or films are now coated with the emulsion and dried 
when they are ready for the camera. 

How a Negative Is Made. — When the light re- 
flected from an object passes through the lens of a 
camera and falls on a plate or a film it partly de- 
composes the silver bromide and sets free the bro- 
mide (Br) and pure silver (Ag) which is in the form 
of a brown powder. The extent to which the silver 
bromide is decomposed depends on (a) how much 
light falls on it and (b) what color the light is. 
Violet light acts most, blue light next, green light 
about medium and red light scarcely at all. White 
light is a mixture of red, green and violet. Fig. 64 
shows the photographic values of lights of different 
colors. 

What Developing Does. — While the silver bro- 
mide is partly decomposed according to the amount 
of light that acts on it, the operation of decomposing, 
or reducing it, must be carried on still further until 

167 



THE AMATEITK CHEMIST 

there is enough contrast between the exposed and 
unexposed parts of the plate or film and this is done 
by developing it, that is, soaking it in a solution 
called a developer. 



VIOLET 




INDIGO 



blue: 



GREEN 



YELLOW 



ORANGE 



RED 



Fig. 64. Actinic Values for Light of Different Colors 



The kind of developer that is largely used is hy- 
droquinone (C 6 H 4 (OH 2 )), which is a potassium 
salt, and this gives quinone (C 6 H 4 2 ). This devel- 
oper reduces the silver bromide to pure silver, all of 

168 



PHOTO- AND ELECTKO-CHEMISTRY 

which must be done in a red-light. (See footnote on 
page 4.) 

Why the Plate or Film Is Fixed.— If the de- 
veloped plate was exposed to white light the silver 
bromide on it which has not been affected by the 
image would be decomposed and so spoil the plate. 
To prevent this the plate or film is soaked in a so- 
lution which will wash away the unaffected parts of 
the silver bromide and hence the light cannot affect 
it further. 

This is called fixing the plate or film and the so- 
lution used is sodium thiosulphite (]Sra 2 S 2 3 ), "that 
is, hyposulphite of soda, or just hypo as the pho- 
tographers call it, and water. This dissolves away 
the unchanged silver and as the glass is clear in these 
places they print black. 

About Photo Printing Papers. — Bromide Par 
pers. — Papers like velox and others that are sold 
under similar trade names are coated with a bromo- 
gelatine emulsion; they are very sensitive and are 
printed by exposing them to the light for a few sec- 
onds after which they are developed and fixed like 
dry plates and films. 

Silver Papers. — There are two kinds of silver 
papers and these are (a) silver paper and (b) solio 
paper. Silver paper is coated with albumen and 
then with a solution of silver. Solio paper is coated 
with gelatine and then silver. The first is the old- 
fashioned and the second is the new-fangled kind. 

Light acts slowly on these papers and they can be 
169 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

printed by sunlight and toned and fixed in weak day- 
light. 

Toning Silver Prints. — Silver prints are toned 
with (a) gold (An) to give them a richer color, and 
(b) platinum (Pt) to make them more permanent. 
Gold toning solutions are made of sodium chloau- 
rate (NaAuCl 4 ), and this dissolves some of the sil- 
ver and the gold takes its place on the paper. Plati- 
num toning solutions are made of potassium chloro- 
platinite (K 2 PtCl 4: ) and in this case platinum takes 
the place of the silver. 

Blue Print Paper. — Blue prints are largely used 
for working plans because they are cheap and easy 
to make and read. Blue print paper is made by 
coating the paper with potassium ferricyanide 
(K 3 Ee(CT0 6 ) and citric acid (H 2 C 6 H 5 7 ). After 
the paper has been printed all you need to do to fix 
it is to wash it in clean, cold water. 

Electbo-Chemistby 

The three principal branches of electro-chemistry 
have to do with (1) the generation of electric cur- 
rents, by batteries, (2) the deposition of one metal 
on another metal, or electroplating, and (3) the 
extraction of metals and production of compounds 
by electrolysis. Other important chemical processes 
are carried out in the electric furnace but this is an 
indirect branch of electro-chemistry. 

How Batteries Are Made.— Batteries are of two 
kinds and these are (1) primary batteries and (2) 

170 



PHOTO- AND ELECTKO-CHEMISTKY 

storage batteries. A battery cell of whatever kind 
is made up of four chief parts and these are (1) the 
jar, or containing vessel; (2) the cell liquid, or 
electrolyte; (3) the positive element, and (4) the 
negative element, all of which are shown in Fig. 65. 
Primary Battery Cells. — In a primary cell the 
positive (+) element is made of a rod of copper 
(Cu) or carbon (C), usually the latter, and the nega- 

COW0? ZINC 




ELECTRON 

Fig. 65. A Simple Electric Battery Cell 

tive element ( — ) is nearly always zinc (Zn). ISTow 
when these elements are set into an acid, or an alkali, 
solution such as dilute sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) or 
ammonium chloride (NH 4 C1), that is sal ammoniac, 
or other electrolyte, and a wire connects the elements 
together a current of electricity will be set up and 
flow through the circuit thus formed. A dry cell is 
shown at A in Fig. 66. 

How a Primary Cell Generates Current.— 
Wherever a chemical change takes place heat and 

171 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

electricity are set up. ISTow the current of a primary 
cell is the result of the chemical affinity of the 
electrolyte for the zinc. 

To go a little deeper this is due to the fact that 
the atoms of the electrolyte and the zinc are built 
up of electrons, that is, little charges of electricity, 
and when the zinc is acted on by an acid or an 
alkaline solution these little electric charges are set 
free and they flow from the zinc to the carbon 
through the electrolyte in a steady stream, or current 
as it is called, provided these elements are connected 
with a wire. 

Storage Battery Cells. — In a storage battery cell 
both the positive and negative elements are made of 
sheet lead. These lead grids, as they are called, are 
punched full of holes and those in one grid are 
filled with lead dioxide (Pb0 2 ) and this form3 the 
positive plate; the holes in the other grid are filled 
with pure finely divided lead (Pb) and this forms 
the negative plate; finally these elements are put 
into an electrolyte of dilute sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ). 
A storage battery cell is pictured at B in Fig. 66. 

How a Storage Battery Delivers Current. — 
A storage cell must be charged by an electric current 
before it will deliver a current, which means that 
the charging current changes the pure lead (Pb), 
the sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) and the lead dioxide 
(Pb0 2 ) into lead sulphate (PbS0 4 ) and water 
(H 2 0). So you see what is really stored up is not 
current electricity but chemical energy. 

172 



PHOTO- AND ELECTEO-CHEMISTKY 



JNow wlien you want the storage battery to deliver 
a current close the circuit and the chemical action 
will be reversed, that is, the water and the lead sul- 
phate will change into lead dioxide, sulphuric acid 
and pure lead and this action sets free a stream of 
electrons, or as we call it, an electric current. 





R 

Fig. 66. Kinds of Battery Cells 

A. A dry battery cell 

B. A storage battery cell 

About Electroplating. — The deposition of one 
metal on another is called electroplating. There are 
five parts to a plating outfit, namely: (1) the vat, or 
vessel which holds; (2) the plating solution, or bath; 
(3) the bar of metal, or anode, which supplies the 
metal needed to plate with; (4) the article to be 
plated ; and (5) the battery or other source of current. 

173 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 



How Plating Is Done.— The bath, which let us 
suppose is for copper plating, is made by dissolving 
copper sulphate (CuS0 4 ,5H 2 0), that is blue vitriol, 
in water. Next clean the article to be plated well, 
loop a wire around it and connect it with the positive 
pole of the battery, connect a copper plate for the 
anode to the negative pole, as shown in Fig. 67. 




Fig. 67. An Electroplating Outfit 

Now when the current flows through the bath the 
copper is disassociated from the solution and is car- 
ried to and deposited on the article while the sul- 
phuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) goes to the copper anode. 

Other Uses of Electrometallurgy. — There are 
many other uses to which electrolysis is put besides 
plating and among these are refining of copper, ex- 
traction of aluminum, making sodium hydroxide, the 
metal calcium, etc. 

174 



CHAPTER X\T 
SOME USEFUL EXPLOSIVES 

Explosives have their victories in peace as well as 
in war as you will presently see. Gunpowder was 
the first explosive discovered and it was used by the 




Fig. 68. Black and Smokeless Powders 

A. Black gunpowder, magnified about 20 times 

B. Smokeless nitrocellulose powder, magnified about 400 
times 

C. Smokeless nitroglycerine powder, magnified about 400 
times 



heathen Chinee for making fireworks at least twelve 
centuries before you and I were born. The secret of 
making gunpowder was carried from China to Arabia 

175 



THE AMATEUE CHEMIST 

by traders and in the latter country the cannon was 
invented. 

Sporting ant> Military Powders 

How Gunpowder Is Made. — Common blach gun- 
powder is made of 75 per cent of potassium nitrate 
(KN"0 3 ), or saltpeter, 14 per cent of charcoal, which 
is nearly pure carbon (C), 10 per cent of sulphur 
(S) and 1 per cent of water (H 2 0). 

The first three substances are powdered separately 
and mixed with the water into a paste; it is then 
put under great pressure when a solid cake of gun- 
powder is formed and finally this is broken up into 
various sized grains. The fine grains burn quickly 
and are used in small arms while the big grains, 
sometimes as large as marbles, are used in mortars 
and cannon. A in Fig. 68 shows black gunpowder 
grains slightly magnified. 

When Gunpowder Explodes. — When gunpow- 
der is fired the heat sets the oxygen (0) and nitro- 
gen (N) of the saltpeter free; the oxygen combines 
with the carbon (C) of the charcoal forming carbon 
dioxide (C0 2 ) and nitrogen (N), both gases, and 
the sulphur (S) combines with the potassium (K) 
forming potassium sulphide (K 2 S), a solid that 
makes the smoke. It is the gases which are set free 
that develop the force to shoot the bullet from a 
rifle or blow up a stump or rock. 1 

1 If the gases could be confined to the same space as that 
occupied by the gunpowder which produced them the pressure, 
at the temperature of the explosion, would be in round num- 
bers about 44 tons to the square inch. 

176 



SOME USEFUL EXPLOSIVES 

What Smokeless Powders Are. — Unlike black 
gunpowder, which is a mechanical mixture, smoke- 
less powders are chemical compounds. Now there 
are two kinds of smokeless powders, namely, (1) 
nitrocellulose powder and (2) nitroglycerine powder. 

These powders are different from black powder 
in that they are so unstable they decompose and hence 
explode , when they are subjected to the slightest 
shock. Eor this reason they are not ignited by a 
spark but are fired by concussion. 

About Nitrocellulose Powder. — This kind of 
powder, a highly magnified view of which is shown 
at B, is practically pure guncotton, or pyroxylin 
(C 6 H 7 2 (0 7 N0 2 ) 3 ) to give it its true name. Gun- 
cotton is made by soaking cotton, which is nearly 
pure cellulose (C 6 H 10 5 ) 2 ), in a mixture of nitric 
acid (HN0 3 ) and sulphuric acid (H 2 S0 4 ) and then 
washing it. It burns quietly in the open air but when 
-confined it explodes violently and does .not leave any 
ash. 

And Nitroglycerine Powders. — This powder is 
made of about half guncotton and half nitroglycerine. 
Glyceryl nitrate {Q^K^EO^)^) or nitroglycerine, is 
made by treating glycerine (C 3 H 8 3 ) with sulphuric 
acid (H 2 S0 4 ) and nitric acid (HN0 3 ). Nitro- 
glycerine powder is not as good as nitrocellulose 
powder for small arms because the former develops 
more heat and the acids that are liberated attack the 
steel. A highly magnified view of nitroglycerine 
powder is shown at C. 

177 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

How Gunpowders Are Fired. — A fulminate 
which detonates, that is, explodes instantly, when the 
hammer of a gun strikes it, is used to fire the charge 
of powder in small arms. When hlack powder is 
used the fulminate ignites it hut when smokeless 
powder is used the shock of the detonating fulminate 
fires it. Mercuric fulminate (Hg (ONC) 2 ) is a very 
unstable compound and it is used as the detonator 
for cartridges and shells. 

Faem Explosives 

There are two kinds of explosives used on the farm 
and for other purposes such as clearing land, mak- 
ing ditches, tree planting, orchard cultivation, build- 
ing roads, blasting wells, etc., and these are (1) 
blasting powder and (2) dynamite. 

What Blasting Powder Is. — Blasting powder is 
black gunpowder but it is not so carefully made as 
that used for arms. Like black gunpowder, too, 
there is only one strength of blasting powder but the 
quickness of its action is controlled by using small 
and large grains, the finer grains burning much faster 
than the coarser grains. A whole series of DuPont 
blasting powders is pictured in Fig. 69. 

The fine grained powders are used where you want 
to break and shatter a rock, or other object, into 
small pieces, while coarse grained powders, which 
burn slower, have more of a lifting power and are 
used for blasting out coal, stone, etc., in large pieces. 

178 



SOME USEFUL EXPLOSIVES 



Where you want a material to be highly pulverized 
dynamite is the explosive to use because it burns very 
fast. 
How Dynamite Is Made. — The word dynamite 



M 



FF 



FFFF 






FFFFF 



FFFFFFF 



FtDUST 



B< 




F FF FFF FFFF 

Fig. 69. Kinds of Blasting Powders 

comes from the Greek dynamis which means power, 
and it lives nobly up to its name. 

It was first made by mixing nitroglycerine with 
infusorial earth, called Kieselgulir, a fine white 
powder that will absorb and hold three times its 

179: 



THE AMATEUK CHEMIST 

weight of the explosive. Dynamite is now made by 
mixing nitroglycerine with various kinds of inert 
materials, such as powdered magnesia, sodium car- 
bonate, sawdust, flour, or other dope as it is called. 

The mixture which is about as thick as plastic 
clay, is formed into cylinders, or sticks, about 2 
inches in diameter and 8 inches long, as shown in 
Fig. 70, and these are wrapped in paper, the ends 
are folded in and they are then paraffined to make 
them moisture proof. Dynamite is made of different 



C 



Hm s 




Fig. 70. A Stick of Dynamite 

strengths by mixing the nitroglycerine and dope in 
various proportions. 

How Blasting Powder and Dynamite Are 
Fired. — There are three ways to fire blasting pow- 
der and these are with (1) a miner's squib, (2) a 
safety fuse, and (3) an electric blasting cap. 

A miner s squib is simply a thin train of black 
gunpowder leading to the charge of blasting powder 
in a bore-hole and long enough to give the blaster time 
to get under cover after lighting it. The scheme is 
pictured in Eig. 71. This scheme is not very safe 
and only one charge can be fired at a time. 

A safety fuse is made up of a train of gunpowder 
rolled up in cotton or hemp tape and it can be used 
either with or without a blasting cap. When the 

180 



SOME USEFUL EXPLOSIVES 

fuse is used alone one end is put into the hole filled 
with the blasting powder, but when it is used with a 
blasting cap, one end is put in the open end of the 
cap and the latter is crimped as shown in Fig. 72 to 
make them hold together. 

A blasting cap, see A, is a small copper tube closed 
at one end and loaded with a charge of sensitive and 
violent explosive. When the spit of sparks of the 
fuse reaches the cap it explodes and this ignites the 

TRAM OF yj 

WMGEOF GUNPOWDER, ^\ 

BL4ST/NG 
POWDER 




Fig. 71. A Miner's Squib 



blasting powder. Where only one charge of the 
explosive is to be fired at a time this is a cheap but 
by no means the best way. 

Firing Explosives by Electricity.— The chief 
advantage of using electricity is that (1) it makes 
the work far safer, (2) the charge of explosive can be 
tamped down solid and (3) a number of charges 
can be exploded at the same time. 

The Apparatus You Need.— An electric firing 
outfit consists of (1) a blading machine to generate 

181 



d 



] 



fr BLASTING CUP (FULL SIZE) LOADED 
WITH MERCURIC FULMINATE (ffg(ONc) z ) 



6 
B- BLASTING CAP CRIMPED TO FUSE 




C- ADUPONT CAP CRIMPER 




CRIMPING THE CAP ON 
THE FUSE 

Fig. 72. A Safety Fuse with Blasting Cap 

182 



SOME USEFUL EXPLOSIVES 

the current, (2) a pair of connecting wires to con- 
duct the current from the machine to (3) an electric 
squib or an electric blasting cap which sets in the 
explosive and is discharged by the current. 



H/lNDLg 



SIN&N6P0ST 
FOR W/RE 




BINDJNG POST 
FOR WJRE 
/JRM/?7VRE 

BRUSH 
P/SIO 




#JtCK3/?R 
SHUNT 



Fig. 73. A Blasting Machine 

A. How the blasting machine is made 

B. The blasting machine ready for use 



The blasting machine is a little dynamo with a 
pinion on the armature and this meshes with a rack 
so that when you push down on the handle the 
armature revolves and this sets up a current. The 
mechanism is made plain in Fig. 73. 



Fig. 74. An Electric Squib 



The connecting wires are made of copper because 
this metal is a good conductor of electricity, it is 
stranded to make it flexible, and then covered with 

183 



EXPLOSIVE 
CHARGE 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 

^0^' MSULGTEl 



BARE END 
OF WIRE 




FINE W/REB RIDGE I 

B/9REEND fl ^C%>>. 



OF WJRE 



'c -a* 



W/RE 



Ci, JJLLIN6 j^ SUL/)T£0 
WJRE 




B 

fl' HOW AN ELECTRIC BLASTING 

CAP ISM SIDE 
B- AN ELECTRIC BLASTING CAP 

REAP Y TO BE FIRED 

Fig. 75. The Electbic Blasting Cap 



184 



SOME USEFUL EXPLOSIVES 

cotton braid and waterproofed to prevent the current 
from leaking away. 

An electric squib and an electric blasting cap 
shown in Fig. 75 are made alike except that the 
squib has a paper shell and the blasting cap has a 
copper shell. When the charge in a squib is fired it 
spits out a small flame, while the charge of a blasting 
cap detonates. Thus while a squib can be used for 
blasting powder it can't be used for dynamite but 

blasting CJJP 
X_ 



DYNAMITE QjgS£ 




Fig. 76. An Electric Blasting Cap in a Stick op 
Dynamite 

an electric blasting cap can be used for either kind 
of explosive. 

The paper or copper shell is closed at one end and 
it is then filled with powder. The hair ends of the 
connecting wires are bridged across with a very fine 
wire and this sets into the charge. The leading in 
wires are held in place by an insulation plug and 
the open end of the tube is filled with cement, all of 
which are shown in Fig. 74. 

The squib is set in the center of the charge of 
blasting powder or the blasting cap is set in the 
end of the stick of dynamite, as shown in Fig. 76, 
and then connected with the machine. Now when 
you press down on the handle of the machine the 

185 



THE AMATEUR CHEMIST 



dynamo generates a current and when this reaches 
the squib or cap it heats the fine wire bridge to in- 




Fig. 77. 



DYNAMJTE CARTRIDGES 
JN HOLES 

How the Connections Are Made for an Electric 
Blast 



candescence and this fires the powder. The way the 
machine and the electric blasting caps are connected 
up is shown in Eig. 77. 



APPENDIX 



The Chief Elements and their Symbols 



Element Symbol 

Aluminum Al 

Antimony Sb 

Argon A 

Arsenic As 

Barium Ba 

Bismuth Bi 

Boron B 

Bromine Br 

Cadmium Cd 

Calcium Ca 

Carbon C 

Chlorine CI 

Chromium Cr 

Cobalt Co 

Copper Cu 

Fluorine F 

Gold Au 

Helium He 

Hydrogen H 

Iodine I 

Iron Fe 



Element Symbol 

Krypton Kr 

Lead Pb 

Lithium Li 

Magnesium Mg 

Manganese Mn 

Mercury Hg 

Nickel Ni 

Nitrogen N 

Oxygen O 

Phosphorus P 

Platinum Pt 

Potassium K 

Radium Ra 

Silicon Si 

Silver Ag 

Sodium Na 

Strontium Sr 

Sulphur S 

Tin Sn 

Zinc Zn 



INDEX 



Acetic acid, 122 


Acids in fats, 117 


Acid, acetic, 122 


fatty, 117 


from the air, nitric, 79 


three chief, 73 


boric, 54 


Actinic values of light, 168 


carbolic, 124 


Activity of metals, 84 


chloroplatinie, 75 


table of, 85 


citric, 170 


Adjective dyes, 127 


dyes, 128 


Adulterants for coffee, 56 


how to make hydrochlo- 


for sugar, 55 


ric, 76 


butter, 51 


how to make nitric, 78 


flour, 52 


how to make sulphuric, 74 


foods, 47 


hydrochloric, 19, 37, 54 


Aeration of water, 27 


hypochlorous, 121 


Afterchromed dyes, 132 


lactic, 37, 48 


Agar, 58 


mordants, 127 


Agate, 150 


nitric, 78 


Air, amount you breatfte, 9 


oleic, 36, 117 


we breathe, 1 


oxalic, 128 


breathing bad, 12 


palmitic, 36, 117 


a carrier of germs, 13 


phosphoric, 111 


electric sparks in, 16 


prussic, 156 


gases in, 2 


stearic, 36, 117 


good, how to make, 14 


sulphuric, 74 


is made bad, how good, 12 


sulphurous, 54 


is made of, what, 2 


tannic, 128, 134 


is, what, 2 


uric, 88 


Albumen, 37, 41 


Acids are, what, 73 


Alchemists, 81 


defined, 73 


Alcohol, 68, 118 



189 



INDEX 



Alizarine, 127, 128 


Ammonium bromide, 167 


chromate dyes, 132 


carbonate, 53 


Alkali dyes, 132 


nitrate, 167 


Alkalies, 81 


sulphate, 110 


Alloy of platinum-iridiuirt, 


Amylopsin, 39 


101 


Analysis of water, chem- 


Alloys, bismuth, 98 


ical, 31 


chromium, 94 


Analyzing butter apparatus, 


lead, 97 


51 


manganese, 93 


Aniline defined, 127 


table of useful, 102 


dyes, 127 


of tin, 96 


Animal colors, 158 


Alum, ammonium, 53 


fibers, 125 


baking powder, 53 


life, 3 


common, 53 


manures, 107 


how to test, 53 


phosphates, 111 


how to test for, 54 


Annotto, 50 


tawing, 134 


Anode, 173 


Alumina, 156 


Anthracite coal, 66 


Aluminum, 91 


Antimony sulphide, 148 


hydroxide, 28, 92 


Aorta, the, 11 


oxide, 92, 146, 158 


Apparatus for analyzing 


sulphate, 127, 129 


butter, 51 


Amalgams, 99 


for making hydrochloric 


table of some useful, 103 


acid, 76 


Amateur mechanic, 28 


for making nitric acid, 78 


American vermillion, 157 


for making nitric acid 


Amethyst, 150 


from air, 79 


Amino-acids, 38 


for making sulphuric acid, 


Ammonia, 110 


74 


in air, 2 


Aqua regia, 75, 81, 100 


soda and borax act, how, 


Argon in air, 2 


119 


Arteries, 11 


Ammoniacal liquor, 110 


Artificial dyestuff colors, 125 


Ammonium alum, 52 


indigo dyes, 127 



190 



INDEX 



Artists' colors, 159 


Batteries, 170 


Aryans, 58 


Benzine, 68, 120 


Ash in foodstuffs, 43 


Benzol, 144 


Atmosphere, the, 1 


Bessemer process, 96 


Atoms, 61, 170 


Bile, 39 


in oxygen, 14 


Biological process, 27 


in ozone, 14 


Bismuth, 98 


Average fuel values of foods, 


alloys, 98 


42 


Bitter salts, 146 


Azo dyes, 127 


Bituminous coal, 66 




Black gunpowder, 175 


Babbitt metal, 96 


Blackboard chalk, 145 


Bacilli, 21 


Blanc fixe, 156 


Bacillus coli, 22 


Blasting cap, 181 


enteritidis, 22 


machine, 183 


typhosus, 22 


powder, 178 


Bacteria, 21 


is fired, how, 180 


in milk, 50 


what it is, 178 


Bacteriologist, 26 


Blast furnace, 95 


Bad air, 13 


Bleaching, cleaning and dis- 


Baking powder, 53 


infecting, 115 


alum, 53 


compounds are, what, 121 


phosphate, 53 


cotton and linen, 122 


sodium bicarbonate, 53 


is done, how, 121 


tartrate, 53 


hair and wool, 123 


Baking soda, 53 


with hypochlorous acid, 


Barite, 155 


121 


Barium, chloride, 54 


old fashioned, 122 


dioxide, 123 


ozone for, 15 


sulphate, 155 


with ozone, 121 


Barnyard manures, 109 


powder, 122 


Base bullion, 97 


wool, straw and silk, 122 


Bases, the, 81 


Blood, capillaries, 10 


Basic dyes, 128 


dried, 110 


mordants, 128 


Blue lake, 159 



191 



INDEX 



Blue print paper, 170 
Blue vitriol, 53, 174 

how to test, 53 
Bluing clothes, 119 
Bluing does, what, 119 
Bohemian glass, 151 
Boiled linseed oil, 160 
Boiler crust, 31 
Boiler water, permutite 
process, 31 

treatment of, 31 
Boiling point, 63 
Boiling water, 27 
Bone-black, 157 
Bone phosphates, 111 
Bones, in body, 36 

raw, 111 

steamed, 111 
Book of the stars, 1 
Borax, 50-117 

soda and ammonia act, 
how, 119 
Boric acid, 54 

Brainy, what to eat to be, 44 
Bread and flour, 52 
Bread, how to test, 53 

is made of, what, 53 
Breath, action of, 12 
Breathe, the way we, 8 
Breathing bad air, 13 

in, 8 

out, 10 
Bromide papers, 169 
Brown coal, 66 
Brunswick blue, 156 



Building materials, 150 
Bulletin No. 200, 72 
Bureau, of Mines, 71, 72 

of Standards, 31, 71 
Burn, how things, 7 
Burning, 59 

definition of, 8 

in oxygen, iron, 60 
Burnt umber, 155 
Butter, 48, 51 

adulterants, 51 

analyzing apparatus, 51 

how to test for, 52 

fat, 39 

renovated, 52 

substitutes for, 51 
Buttermilk, 48 

imitation, 48 

Caffein, 57 

Calcium carbonate, 12 

compounds, 89 

hydroxide, 12, 81, 153 

phosphate, 111 

metal, 89 
Calorie defined, 42 

large, 42 

small, 42 
Calorific powder of fuels, 

68 
Calorimeter, 42 

bomb, 69 
Camouflaged foods, 46 

meats, 54 
Caoutchouc, 140 



192 



INDEX 



Capillary, blood, 10 
Caramel, 56 
Carbohydrates, 38 
. in foodstuffs, 43 
Carbolic acid, 124 
Carbon, 38 

crystallized, 147 

dioxide, 53, 59 
in air, 2 

experiment with, 11 
how carried away, 11 

disulphide, 120 

in fuels, 64 

tetrachloride, 120 
Carbona, 120 
Carbonate of soda, 30 
Carborundum, 146 
Carteria lacca, 128 
Carmine, 158 
Carmine lake, 159 
Casein, in milk, 47 
Cassiterite, 96 
(Castor pumace, 110 
Catalytic agent, 6 
Caustic potash, a base, 81 
Caustic soda, 124 
Celluloid, 166 
Cellulose, 148, 150 
Cement, Portland, 153 
Centigrade, 42 

denned, 25 

scale, 63 
Centimeter, denned, 24 
Cerebral excitant, 55 
Chalcedony, 150 



Chalk, 145 

Chamois leather, 134 

Charcoal, how made, 67 

Cheese, 48 

Chemical action, 27 

Chemical analysis of water, 

31 
Chemical change, 58 

how brought about, 59 
Chemical colors, 156 
Chemical energy, 62 
Chemistry of photography, 

164 
Chili saltpeter, 79, 107 
China, 149 

Chloride of lime, 89, 122 
Chlorine, 5, 120, 121, 123 
Chloroform, 120 
Chloroplatinic acid, 75 
Chrome alum leathers, 139 
Chrome green, 156 

dye, 127 
Chrome red, 156 
Chrome yellow, 156 

dye, 127 
Chromic oxide, 94, 156 
Chromite, 94 
Chromium, 93 

alloys, 94 
Chromous acetate, 129 
Cinnabar, 99 
Citric acid, 170 
Clay, 104, 149, 153 
Cleaning, bleaching and dis- 



infecting, 115 



193 



IKDEX 



Cleaning is done, how dry/ 

120 
Cleaning processes, kinds of, 

115 
Cleaning with water, 29 
Cleans, how soap and wa- 
ter, 119 
Coagulation, 27 
Coal, fixed carbon in, 71 

was formed, how, 66 

kinds of, 66 

stores, 12 

tar colors, 158 
Cochineal, 125, 158 
Cobalt blue, 156, 159 

oxide, 156 
Coddington magnifier, 23 
Coffee, 55 

coloring for, 56 

how to test, 56 

Java and Mocha, 56 

poison in, 56 
Coke, how made, 67 
Collogen, 41 
Colloids, 41 

Colloidal suspension, 41 
Colored glass, 151 
Coloring, for coffee, 56 

foods, 50 

matter, 50 

milk, 48 
Colors, artificial dyestuff, 125 

chemical, 156 

see also Dyes 

how mordants make, 128 



Colors, natural dyestuff, 
125 

natural or earth, 155 

that last, 159 

plant, animal and coal tar, 
158 
Combustion, 7, 59 
Common things, 145 
Commercial fertilizers, 107 

potash fertilizers, 113 
Compound microscope, 23 
Concrete, 153 
Conduction of heat, 62 
Convection of heat, 62 
Conversion rules for ther- 
mometers, 64 
Cooking, fats, 41 

proteins, 41 

foodstuffs, 40 
Copper, 97 

sulphate, 53, 174 

tools, ancient, 98 
Coral, 145 
Cotton, 148 

goods, dyeing, 129 
Cottonseed meal, 110 
Count germs, how to, 26 
Counting bacteria in milk, 50 
Cream, 48 

separator, 48 
Crockery, 149 
Crops, rotation of, 109 
Cryolite, 92 
Culture defined, 24 
Cultures, germ, 24 



194 



INDEX 



Dealers in dyestuffs, 133 

Delahydrate of sodium, 129 

Departments of Health, 26 

Developing a dry plate, 167 

Diamonds, 146 

Diffusion of gases, 11 

Digestion, 37 

Digestive tract, 37 

Direct dyeing colors, 127 

Direct fertilizers, 108 

Dirt, how soap removes, 119 

Diseased meats, how to tell, 
54 

Disinfectant, ozone as a, 15 
good, 124 
use of, 123 

Disinfecting, cleaning and 
bleaching, 115 

Disinfecting process, 27 

Distilled water, 29 

Direct fertilizers, 110 

Doctored foods, 46 
meats, 54 

Dolomite, 90 

Double superphosphate fer- 
tilizers, 112 

Driers, 160 

oil and thinners, 160 

Drinking water, how to 
purify, 26 

Drop black, 157 

Dry cleaning is done, how, 
120 

Dupont blasting powders, 
178 



Du Pont Company, 140 
Dyeing, 125 

cotton goods, 129 

cotton, linen, wool and 
silk, 130 

denned, 125 

doing job, 131 

at home, 130 

kinds of goods, 125 

pans for, 131 

stripping goods for, 130- 
132 

preparing goods for, 130 

union goods, 130 

woolen goods, 129 

afterchromed, 132 

alizarine chromate, 132 

alkali, 132 
Dyes, Diamond, 130 

metachrome, 132 

Rainbow, 130 

monachrome, 132 

saddened, 132 

sour, 132 

see also Colors 
Dyestuffs, dealers in, 133 

kinds of, 125 

using, 129 
Dynamite, 178-179 

is fired, how, 180 

is made, how, 179 

Earth colors, 154-155 
our good old, 1 
heat of, 1 



195 



IKDEX 



Earth, water on, 17 
Earthenware, 149 
Eat, amount of food you 
should, 43 

to be brainy, what to, 44 

food you, 34 

to get fat, what to, 44 

to get slim, what to, 44 

to get strong, what to, 
44 

what to, 45 
Eating, scientific, 44 
Egg shell, 145 
Eimer and Amend, 31, 72 
Electric blasting cap, 185 

furnace, 170 

sparks in air, 16 

squib, 185 
Electro-chemistry, 164 
Electrolysis, 96, 98, 170 
Electrometallurgy, 174 
Electrons, 172 
Electroplating, 170, 173 
Electrolyte, 170 
Element defined, 1 
Elements and their symbols, 

187 
Emery, 146 
Emulsion defined, 166 

milk is an, 47 
Enzyme, 37 

defined, 37 

how produced, 37 
Epithelial linings, 10 
Epsom salts, 91, 146 



Esters, 68 
Ether, 164 
Evaporated milk, 48 
Examination of water, 31 
Experiment with carbon di- 
oxide, 11 

in making ozone, 16 

with oxygen, 60 
Explosives, 175 

farm, 178 

firing by electricity, 181 
Explosive force of gunpow- 
der, 176 
Extracts for making leath- 
ers, 137 

Fabricoid, 140 
Fahrenheit scale, 63 
Farm explosives, 178 
Farm waste for fertilizing, 

114 
Fat, butter, 39 

in milk, 39 

what to eat to get, 44 
Fats, 39 

in body, 36 

in foodstuffs, 43 

oil from, 67 
Fatty acids, 117 
Felspar, 149 
Ferric chloride, 50, 129 

oxide, 59 

tannate, 147 
Ferrous sulphate, 147 
Fertilizers, 104 



196 



INDEX 



Fertilizers, commercial, 


Food material in foodstuffs, 


107 


43 


potash, 113 


mineral matter as, 40 


direct, 108, 110 


you should eat, amount of, 


do, what, 107 


43 


double superphosphate, 


substitutes, 47 


112 


values, 42 


indirect, 108 


Foods, adulterated, 47 


kinds of, 107 


average fuel values of, 42 


see Manures 


are camouflaged, how, 46 


nitrogen, 110 


coloring, 50 


phosphate, 111 


impure, 46 


potash, 112 


poisonous, 47 


superphosphate, 112 


preserving, 50 


Fertilizing, using farm 


pure, 46 


waste for, 114 


Foodstuffs, food material in, 


Filters, 28 


43 


Fire, 58 


kinds of, 36 


origin of name, 58 


fuel values of, 41 


is, what, 59 


are made of, what, 37 


Firing explosives, 181 


prices of, 44 


Fish, ground, 110 


raw, 40 


Fixation of atmospheric ni- 


values of, 44 


trogen, 79 


what cooking does to, 


Fixed carbon in coal, 71 


40 


Fixing a dry plate, 169 


Formaldehyde, 50, 124 


Flax, 148 


Formalin, 50 


Flint, 150 


Fractional distillation, 68 


glass, 151 


Freezing point, 63 


Floating soap, 117 


Fuel defined, 64 


Flour, adulterants for, 52 


in the home, how to save, 


and bread, 52 


72 


wheat, 52 


oils, 67 


Fluids in body, 36 


values of foodstuffs, 41, 44 


Food you eat, 31 


is, what, 64 



197 



ISTDEX 



Fuels, apparatus for testing/ 
69 

carbon in, 64 

kinds of, 64 

origin of, 65 

should be tested, why, 68 

volatile matter in, 71 
Fulminates, 178 

Galena, 97 
Galvanizing, 93 
Gases in air, 2 

diffusion, 11 
Gasoline, 68, 120 
Gastric juice, 37 
Gelatine, 41, 166 

how to prepare nutrient, 
24 

sterilized, 24 
Germs, 21 

air as a carrier of, 13 

on city streets, 14 

cultures, 24 

how to count, 26 

incubator for, 24 

in water, how to test for, 
24 
Glass, 151 

how to bend, 5 
Glauber's salts, 30, 129 
Glucose, 39, 55 
Glue, 146 
Gluten, 53 
Glycerine, 36, 117, 147 

soap, 118 



Gold, 81, 101 

Gold toning solutions, 170 

Goods for dyeing, kinds of, 

125 
Goodyear, 142 
Gram, 42 
Granite, 152 
Granulated zinc, 19 
Graphite, 147 
Grease, what soap does to, 

119 
Green earth, 155 
Green manures, 109 
Gum elastic, 143 
Guano, 109 
Guncotton, 177 
Gunpowder, 175 

explodes, when, 176 

explosive force of, 176 

is made, how, 176 

is fired, how, 178 
Gypsum, 89, 146 

Haemoglobin, 41 
Hard water, 30 
Heat, of combustion, 68 

conduction, 62 

convection, 62 

engines, 62 

develops power, how, 62 

quantity of, 62 

sensation, 61 

is transmitted, how, 62 

unit, 42 

is, what, 61 



198 



INDEX 



Hemp, 148 


How gunpowders are fired, 


Home handy book, 28 


178 


Hoof meal, 110 


How gunpowder is made, 


House, how to ventilate a, 


176 


14 


How glycerine is made, 68 


How batteries are made, 170 


How heat develops power, 


How to bend glass, 5 


62 


How blasting powder is 


How heat is measured, 62 


fired, 180 


How heat is transmitted, 62 


How bleaching is done, 121 


How to make bad air good, 


How blue print paper is 


14 


made, 170 


How to make hydrochloric 


How we breathe, 8 


acid, 76 


How a calorimeter works, 69 


How to make hydrogen, 17 


How carbon dioxide is car- 


How to make milk safe, 51 


ried away, 11 


How to make nitric acid, 78 


How chemical change is 


How to make nitrate of 


brought about, 59 


silver, 165 


How to count germs, 26 


How to make nitrogen, 6 


How a dry plate is devel- 


How to make oxygen, 4 


oped, 167 


How to make ozone, 16 


How a dry plate is fixed, 


How to make rubber ce- 


169 


ment, 144 


How dry plates are made, 


How to make silver bromide, 


165 


165 


How dynamite is fired, 180 


How to make silver chloride, 


How dynamite is made, 179 


165 


How elements are combined, 


How to make soap, 117 


36 


How to make sulphuric acid, 


How films are made, 165 


74 


How fuels are tested, 69 


How milk is doctored, 48 


How gases pass through 


How milk is tested, 48 


lung sacs, 10 


How mordants make colors, 


How good air is made bad, 


128 


12 


How a negative is made, 167 



199 



INDEX 



How photographs are made, 
164 

How plating is done, 174 

How a primary cell gen- 
erates current, 171 

How to prepare nutrient gel- 
atine, 24 

How to purify drinking wa- 
ter, 26 

How rubber trees are 
tapped, 141 

How rubber is vulcanized, 
142, 143 

How a salt can be formed, 
83 

How to save fuel in the 
home, 72 

How shoe leathers are made, 
137 

How silver prints are toned, 
170 

How soda, borax and am- 
monia act, 119 

How soap is made, 117 

How soap removes dirt, 119 

How soap and water cleans, 
119 

How a storage battery de- 
livers current, 172 

How synthetic rubber is 
made, 144 

How to take a sample of wa- 
ter, 26 

How tanning is done, 137 

How tawing is done, 134 



How to tell diseased meats, 

54 
How to test alum, 53 
How to test for alum, 54 
How to test blue vitriol, 53 
How to test bread, 53 
How to test for butter, 52 
How to test coffee, 56 
How to test a sample of wa- 
ter, 26 
How to test water, 24 
How things burn, 7 
How to use a microscope, 23 
How to ventilate a house, 14 
How to ventilate a room, 14 
How washing is done, 115 
Human body, elements in, 35 

is made of, what, 35 

self -repairing, 34 

temperature of, 42 

water in, 17 
Human mechanism, 40 
Humis, 104 
Hydrochloric acid, 19, 54 

how to make, 76 

in stomach, 37 

uses of, 77 
Hydrogen, 38 

chloride gas, 76 

how to make it, 17! 

peroxide, 121-123 

in water, 17 
Hydroquinone, 168 
Hydroxides as bases, 81 
Hydroxyl radical, 82 t 



200 



INDEX 



Hypochlorous acid, 121 
Hyposulphite of soda, 139, 
169 

Imitation buttermilk, 48 

leathers, 139 
Impure foods, 46 
Incubator for germs, 25 
India rubber, 140 
Indicators, 82 
Indigo, 125, 158 

artificial, 127 
Indirect fertilizers, 108 
Industrial use of water, 30 
Ink, 147 

Intestine, small, 38 
Iridium, 101 
Iron, 59, 94 

buff dye, 127 

kinds of, 94 

oxide, 8 

sulphide, 96 
Isoprene, 144 
Ivory black, 157 

Jasper, 150 

Java and Mocha coffee, 

56 
Job dyeing, doing, 131 
dyers' colors, 132 

Kaolin, 149 
Kermes, 125 
Kerosene, 68, 120 
Kid leather, 134 



Kieselguhr, 179 
Kindling temperature, 61 
King of waters, 81 
Knott Apparatus Co., 4 
Krypton in air, 2 

Lac-dye, 125 
Lactic acid, 37, 48 
Lactometer, 48 
Lactoscope, 49 
Lakes are, what, 128, 158 
Lampblack, 157 
Lapis lazuli, 156 
Laundry soap, 117 
Lead, 97 

alloys, 97 

chromate, 156 

chromes, 156 

dioxide, 172 

pencils, 146 

sulphate, 172 
Leather, 134 

chamois, 134 

chrome alum, 139 

cloth, 140 

extracts for making, 137 

kid, 134 

tanning and tawing; 134 

vegetable, 140 

wash, 134 
Leathers, how shoe, are 
made, 137 

split, 139 
Legumes, 109 
Life, animal, 4 



201 



INDEX 



Light, actinic values of, 168 Manure, commercial, 107 



on silver, action of, 165 
Lignite, 66 
Lime, 89 
Limestone, 145 
Lime water, 12 
Linseed meal, 110 
Linseed oils, 160 
Lipase, 39 
Litharge, 157 
Lithium carbonate, 88 
Lithium (metal), 88 
Lithopone, 156 
Litmus paper, 54, 82 
Loadstone, 92 
Loam, 104 

Logwood, 53, 125, 158 
Lunar caustic, 147 
Lung capillaries, 10 

sacs, 10 

are for, what our, 10 
Lungs, yours, 9 

Madder, 125, 127, 158 
Magnifier, Coddington, 23 
Magnesia alba, 91 
Magnesite, 90 
Magnesium (metal), 89 

sulphate, 146 
Magnetic gas, 4 
Maltase, 39 
Manure, guano, 109 

legumes, 109 

animal, 107 

barnyard, 109 



see Fertilizers 

green, 109 

plant, 107 
Manganese, 92 

alloys, 93 

black oxide of, 6 

brown dye, 127 

dioxide, 6, 92 
Marble, 152 

dust, 55 
Mason's Examination of 

Water, 31 
Masses, 61 
Matches, 147 
flatter is, what, 61 
Meats, camouflaged, 54 

doctored, 54 

how to tell diseased, 54 

preservatives for, 54 
Mechanical separator, 27 
Menstruum, 161 
Mercuric fulminate, 178 
Mercury, 98 
Metachrome dyes, 132 
Metals, 82 

activity of, 84 

are, what, 84 

kinds of, 85 

occur, how, 84 

and their uses, 84 
Microscope, compound, 23 

how to use the, 23 
Military gunpowders, 176 
Milk, coloring, 48 



202 



INDEX 



Milk, counting bacteria in, 
50 

is doctored, how, 48 

evaporated, 48 

fat in, 39 

the great food, 47 

pasteurized, 51 

safe, how to make, 51 

skimmed, 47-48 

sugar, 47 

is tested, how, 48 

what it is, 47 
Mineral content of water, 21 

matter as food, 40 

phosphates, 111 

water a, 40 

wool, 75 
Miners' squib, 180 
Minium, 157 
Mocha and Java, 56 
Molecules, 15, 61 
Monachrome dyes, 132 
Mordant denned, 128 
Mordants, 127 

are, what, 128 
Motion, 58 

Naphtha, 68 
Natural colors, 155 

dyestuff colors, 125 

gas, 66 
Negative, how it is made, 167 
Neon in air, 2 
Nerves, thermal, 61 
Neutral substances, 82 



Nickel, 95 
Nickel-steel, 96 
Nigrosine, 147 
Nitrate of silver, 147 
Nitrates, soluble, 110 
Nitric acid from air, 79 

how to make, 78 

uses for, 81 
Nitric oxide, 79 
Nitrocellulose powders, 177 
Nitrogen in air, 2 

compounds, 37 

fertilizers, 110 

how to make, 6 

tetroxide, 79 
Nitroglycerine powders, 177 

Ochre, 155 

Oil tawing, 134 

varnishes, 161 
Oils, animal, 67 

driers and thinners, 160 

fuel, 67 

lubricating, 68 

mineral, 68 

and paints, 154 

for paints, 160 

tests for, 161 

vegetable, 67 
Oleic acid, 36, 117 
Oleomargarine, 52 
Onyx, 150 
Orange lake, 159 
Organic matter defined, 30 
Oxalic acid, 128 



203 



INDEX 



Oxide of nickel, 160 

Oxidization, 8 

Oxygen, 38 
in air, 2 
atoms in, 14 
does to our bodies, 

11 
how to make, 4 
iron burning in, 60 
magnetic gas, 4 
in water, 17 
where found, 2 

Oyster shell, 145 

Ozone, 121 
atoms in, 14 
for bleaching, 15 
as a disinfectant, 15 
how to make it, 16 
Pure Airifier Co., 16 

Paints and oils, 154 
paints, oils for, 160 
ready mixed, 161 
tests for, 161 

Palmitic acid, 36, 117 

Pancreatic juice, 38 

Pans for dyeing, 131 

Paper, 148 
blue print, 170 
photographic, 169 

Paraffin, 68 

Parke's process, 100 

Purple lake, 159 

Pasteurized milk, 51 

Paydirt, 101 



what, 



Pearls, 145 
Peat, 65 
Pepsin, 37 
Peptones, 38 
Permanent colors, 159 

white, 156 
Permutite process for boiler 

water, 31 
Peroxide of hydrogen, 121 
Petroleum, 66, 68 
Phenol, 124 

Phosphate baking powder, 
53 

fertilizers, 111 

slag, 112 
Phosphoric acid, 111 
Phosphorus, 6, 107, 148 

oxide, 7 
Photo-chemistry, 164 
Photographic papers, 169 
Photographs are made, how, 

164 
Photometer, sulphur, 71 
Physical change, 58 
Physics of photography, 164 
Pigments, kinds of, 154 

tests for, 161 
Plant colors, 158 

fibers, 125 

manures, 107 

matter, 8 

are made of, what, 36 
Plaster of Paris, 89, 146 
Plate glass, 151 
Plating solution, 173 



204 



INDEX 



Platinized asbestos, 75 
Platinum, 75, 81, 100 

combustion crucible, 100 

toning solutions, 170 

iridium alloy, 101 
Poison in coffee, 56 
Poisonous foods, 47 
Porcelain, 149 
Portland cement, 153 
Potash, 113 

fertilizers, 112 

salts, 113 
Potassium, 5, 107 

metal, 85 

bromide, 165 

chlorate, 4, 148 

chloride, 5 

chloroplatinate, 170 

chromate, 130 

dichromate, 130 

f erricyanide, 170 

hydroxide, 81, 87 

nitrate, 54, 87 
Powder, blasting, 178 

from chemical energy, 62 
Preserving foods, 50 
Preservatives for meats, 54 
Prices of foodstuffs, 44 
Priestley, 140 
Primary batteries, 170 
Proteins, the, 37 

in body, 36 

when cooked, 41 

in foodstuffs, 43 

in wool and silk, 122 



Proximate analysis of fuels, 

68 
Prussic acid, 156 
Prussian blue, 156 

blue dye, 127 
Ptyalin, 38 
Pulverized soaps, 118 
Pure foods, 46 
Purifying drinking water, 26 
Pyrolusite, 92 
Pyroxylin, 177 

Quartz, 101, 150 
Quebracho, 139 
Quicklime, 89, 152 
Quinone, 168 

Radical defined, 82 
Rainbow dyes, 130 
Raleigh, Lord, 2 
Rat poison, 148 
Raw foodstuffs, 40 

linseed oil, 160 

timber, 155 
Ready mixed paints, 162 
Red-lead, 97, 157, 160 
Renovated butter, 52 
Roach poison, 148 
Roasting copper ore, 98 
Rock, 104 
Rock crystal, 150 
Room temperature, 76 
Rotation of crops, 109 
Rubber, 134, 140 
Rubies, 146 



205 



IOTDEX 



Rubber cement, 144 

Cold curing, 143 

trees, 141 

synthetic, 144 

vulcanization of, 142-143 

is, what, 140 
Rust, 8, 59 

Saddened dyes, 132 
Safety fuse, 180 
Saliva, 38 
Sal soda, 30 
Salt, 36 

can be formed, how a, 83 

table, 40 
Saltpeter, 54 
Salts, 82 

are, what, 82 
Sand, 104, 150 

in sugar, 55 
Sandstone, 150 
Sanskrit word for fire, 58 
Sapolio, 118 
Saponification, 117 
Sapphires, 146 
Saving fuel in the home, 72 
Scientific eating, 44 
Shoe leathers are made, how, 

137 
Sienna, 155 
Silica, 150 
Silicon dioxide, 149 
Silk, 125 
Silver, 99 

action of light on, 165 



Silver, chloride, 165 

bromide, 165 

nitrate, 165 

papers, 169 
Skimmed milk, 47-48 
Slaked lime, a base, 81 
Slim, what to eat to get, ; 

44 
Smokeless powders are, 

what, 177 
Smith's Inorganic Chemis- 
try, 100 
Smithsonite, 93 
Soap, 115 

does to grease, what, 119 

fillers for, 117 

floating, 117 

how to make, 117 

kinds of, 117 

laundry, 117 

pulverized, 118 

removes grease and dirt, 
how, 119 

solution, 119 

transparent, 118 

is, what, 117 
Soaps, glycerine, 118 

toilet, 118 

water for making, 118 
Soda, 50 

a base, 81 

borax and ammonia act, 
how, 119 

glass, 151 

sal, 30 



206 



INDEX 



Sodium carbonate, 30, 50 


Split leathers, 139 


washing, 30 


Spodumene, 88 


bicarbonate, 53 


Sporting gunpowders, 176 


bicarbonate baking pow- 


Staff of life, 52 


der, 53 


Starch, 38 


chloaurate, 170 


Stearic acid, 36, 117 


chloride, 40 


Steel, 94 


dioxide, 124 


Stomach, the, 37 


hydroxide, 81, 88 


Strong, what to eat to get, 


metal, 87 


44 


nitrate, 78, 88, 107 


Storage batteries, 170 


sulphate, 30, 79 


Strippine, 132 


thiosulphate, 139, 169 


Stripping goods for dyeing, 


Soft soap, 117 


130, 132 


water, 29 


Substantive dyes, 127 


Soil, contains, what, 104 


Substitutes for food, 47 


is made of, what, 104 


Sugar, 38-55 


productive, how to make, 


adulterants, 55 


106 


brown, 55 


virgin, 104 


cane, 55 


what water does to, 105 


Sulphate of nickel, 160 


Soils, 104 


Sulphur, 123 


Solder, 96 


chloride, 144 


Soldering fluid, 20, 78 


content of fuels, 71 


Solio paper, 169 


dioxide, 54, 75, 123 


Soluble nitrates, 110 


photometer, 71 


Solute defined, 73 


trioxide, 75 


Solution defined, 73 


Sulphuric acid, how to make, 


Solvent defined, 73 


74 


water as a, 29 


the uses of, 75 


Solvents, 73 


Sulphurous acid, 54, 122 


Sour dyes, 132 


Sun, the, 1 


Spectrum analysis, 87 


Superphosphate fertilizers, 


Spirit, 160 


112 


varnishes, 161 


Sweetness, 55 



207 



IKDEX 



Symbols, elements and their, Testing for butter, 52 



187 
Synthetic gems, 146 
Synthetic rubber, 144 
Syntonin, 38 

Table of alloys, 102 

amalgams, 103 
Tankage, 110 
Tannin, 57-134 
Tannic acid, 128, 134, 147 
Tanning in the bark, 137 

is done, how, 137 

in liquor, 137 
Tapping rubber trees, 141 
Tartrate baking powder, 53 
Tawing is done, how, 134 
Tawing and tanning denned, 

134 
Tea, 56 

misleading labels on, 57 

pure, 57 

starred, 57 

substitutes for, 56 
Technical paper No. 76, 71 
Temperature denned, 62 

human body, 42 

kindling, 61 

room, 76 
Terra alba, 55 

verte, 155 
Testing alum, 53 

for alum, 54 

blue vitriol, 53 

bread, 53 



coffee, 56 

for diseased meats, 54 

fuels, 68 

for lakes and pigments, 
162 

for linseed oil, 162 

milk, 48 
Tests for oils, 161 

for varnishes, 162 

for paints, 161 

for pigments, 161 

for preservatives on 
meats, 54 

by proximate analysis, 
71 

for turpentine, 162 
Thermal nerves, 61 
Thermit, 92 

Thermit Co. of America, 92 
Thermometers, 62 

conversion rules, 64 

points, 63 

scales, 62 
Things to think about, 34 
Thinners, 160 

oil and driers, 160 
Thomas slag, 112 
Tin, 96 

alloys, 96 

oxide, 158 
Tinstone, 96 
Toilet soaps, 118 
Toning silver papers, 170 
Transparent soap, 118 



208 



INDEX 



Treatment of boiler water, 

31 
Trypsin, 38 
Tumeric, 158 
Turkey red, 129 
Turpentine, 160 

Ultramarine blue, 156 
Union dyes, 130 
Union goods, dyeing, 130 
Unit of heat, 42 



Values of foodstuffs, 44 
Vandyke brown, 155 
Varnishes, tests for, 161 

are, what, 161 
Vegetable leather, 140 
Ventilation, best kind of, 

14 
Ventilate a house, how to, 
14 

a room, how to, 14 
Venetian red, 155 
Venous system, the, 11 
Vibration, heat, 61 
Volatile matter in coal, 66 

in fuels, 71 
Vulcanization, cold, 143 

hot, 142 

means, what, 141 

Washing, chemical, 115 
is done, how, 115 
mechanical, 115 



Washing soda, 30, 118 

water for, 115 
Watch dog of the coal pile, 

69 
Water, chemical analysis of, 
31 

as a cleaning agent, 29 

colors, 154 

does to soil, what, 106 

as drink and food, 20 

we drink and use, 17 

on the earth, 17 

examination of water, 31 

niters, 28 

in foodstuffs, 43 

hard and soft, 29 

heating, 28 

how to test for germs, 24 

in human body, 17 

in industries, 30 

kinds of, 20 

lime, 12 

is made of, what, 17 

magnified, 23 

a mineral, 40 

mineral content of, 21 

organic matter in, 31 

permanent hard, 30 

permutite process for 
boiler, 31 

pollution of drinking, 21 

purifying drinking, 26 
mechanical separator, 26 
coagulation, 26 
chemical action, 26 



209 



INDEX 



Water, purifying drinking, 
disinfecting' process, 
26 
biological process, 26 

aeration, 26 

boiling, 26 

filtration, 26 

distilled, 29 

for soaps, 118 

as a solvent, 29 

taking sample of, 26 

temporary hard, 30 

testing a sample of, 26 

treatment of boiler, 31 

uses of, 20 

vapor in air, 2 

for washing, 115 
Weight of water in human 

body, 17 
Wheat flour, 52 



White Dental Mfg. Co., 143 
White lead, 97, 155, 157 
Window glass, 151 
Wood, 65, 148, 150 

ashes, 112 
Wool, 125 
Woolen goods, dyeing, 129 

Xenon in air, 2 

Yeast, 53 

germs, 53 
You must have food, why, 
34 



Zinc blend, ,93 
chloride, 20 
granulated, 19 
oxide, 157 
white, 155 



(l) 



MAY 261949 



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